Sleeping Gods
by BlueBlazeCOMET
Summary: Chrom and the Shepherds finds a man lying at the side of the road who proves to have extraordinary combat skills and tactical prowess. But the man claims their name is Fairen. So when Lucina arrives before the Plegian War, she only has two questions: Where's Robin, and why did Fairen replace them?
1. Prologue: At the Roadside

**Author's Pre-Chapter Notes:**

This story contains large amounts of violence, descriptions of gore, and crude language. Reader discretion is advised.

Also, this story assumes that readers have played Fire Emblem: Awakening all the way through. If this story is to be completed, there will be heavy spoilers on a per-chapter basis.

Lastly, this story is also heavily inspired by RoseWarden's _Cycle_, which is hosted right here on fanfiction-dot-net. I implore you to check it out if you haven't already. And because this story is so inspired by said work, I will try my best to make many differences between this story and that one so it doesn't seem like I'm ripping it off now that I've admitted how inspired I am because of it. Trust me, this story will go in a different direction than _Cycle_.

Cover art by me. It's pretty bad, but I'm not an artist, and I'd rather use something original than try and stick a screenshot of Chrom's mug onto the story cover. Maybe I'll clean up the lines, colour it, shade, ect. someday.

Enjoy.

* * *

He was emerging from darkness within his subconscious. As light beckoned, and his awareness awakened, he noticed a hum of voices in the background fill in.

"Chrom, we have to do something," a young, lady-like voice said, far off in the background.

"What do you propose we do?" said another, this time a man, the voice getting closer. He began to open his eyes.

"I... I dunno," the lady said.

"Agh," he moaned, hissing as sunlight hit his retinas. He threw up his arm to try and block the light, and suddenly all he could see was brown. Then he realized it was just from the sleeve of the garb he was wearing, and flinched, trying to stretch his muscles and get rid of the overarching pain that seemed to linger. When he tilted his head up from the ground, he noticed two figures standing more or less over his torso, at the moment talking to one another, but then they turned to him as he shifted. It was a young man and a teenaged girl, the former wearing what he guessed was was some sort of knight's coat, all blue with golden linings, as well as two silver belts that crossed his chest perpendicularly, a ridiculous but suave grey cape, and a fancy sword put away in its sheath hanging from his hip.

The girl beside him wore a yellow dress that would almost fit a maid save for the leather corset that rounded her torso. She stared at him with grass green eyes, her blond hair tucked into two pigtails that hung above her head and behind her ears, and held a stick with an orange, reflective crystal dome stuck on the top.

He looked to the right and also spotted a man equipped with a large set of blue armour - pauldrons and boots and all - and had an intimidating edge to his gaze. He could feel the blue-armoured man judge him with a steady grip on the lance that the armoured man held, blunt end on the ground.

Then, the caped man broke into a smile. "I see you're awake now."

"Hey there," the girl said, softly as to be kind and gentle as to not be distressing.

"God damn it," he groaned, rolling the other way. His head was pounding, his mouth dry. He was at least thankful that he could smell the dust he was kicking up from his movement on the parched ground. How long had he been out for this time, he wondered. He suddenly found a white-gloved hand thrust into his vision.

"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know," the caped man said.

"Just," he said, lightly batting away the offered palm. "Give me a few seconds. Not ready to get up yet. Agh, too much pain still."

The caped man frowned, then stood straight up and looked expectantly at the girl. Their eyes barely met before she took a step forward, both hands holding her staff, and tilted the wood towards the person on the ground.

"Where are you hurt? I'm a healer, I can help," the girl informed him.

"Not physical," the man on the ground grunted. "Magical. Hard to explain."

The caped man and the girl looked at each other, confused. The blue-armoured man put a hand to his hip impatiently.

"I've never heard of magical injuries before," the girl said. "I mean, I've heard of injuries caused by magic. Is that what you mean?"

"Not exactly," the man on the ground said.

After another moment, he used his right elbow to sit up, his other hand wiping at the bottom of his eyes. He took a gander at himself and found himself to be a mess, which was par for the course. His grubby, tattered brown overcoat sat on top of his grubby, tattered brown t-shirt above worn-out cargo pants and big, clomping, steel-toed boots, where the lases were tied triple and pulled so tight the only way to get the footwear off was to cut the bindings or to amputate. Scratched-up fingerless gloves were equipped to scabbed and calloused hands. There was dirt and matted mud all over him. A fresh layer of clammy sweat covered what the dirt couldn't. He idly touched his face and found even more dirt, along with a mat of medium-length, straight hair that stuck up everywhere and didn't seem to quit in the face of poor upkeep. Suddenly, he gasped, and his eyes widened. Then, he pawed for something on his chest, and breathed a sigh of relief when in his fingers he grabbed a single ruby pendant shaped like a three-bladed circle, the jewel giving off a slight crimson glow.

He shifted again, bending his knee and planting a foot on the ground to get up, when that same gloved hand was shown to him. He looked up and searched the friendly smile that the caped man gave him. His lips were set into a fine line as he took the hand, then suddenly he had to adjust his sense of balance as he was brought up with a surprising amount of strength.

"Are you ok now?" the caped man asked.

The man with the dirtied overcoat rolled his shoulders and head, wincing. "Good enough to stand. Just shaking out the last of the pain." He took a quick look around. They seemed to be standing at the side of a light dirt road that traveled north and south. It was a rough road; an old road, with stones littering the path. He could make out faint wheel tracks that split out four feet from each other. Trees were littered around the path, sprouted tall with green leaves swaying in the southern summer breeze. Speaking of which, he tugged at the collar of his shirt, noting how hot it was outside for a late afternoon. Small mountains in the not-so-far distances rolled in waves against the horizon.

"It's a bit odd, finding someone lying in the middle of the road like that," the caped man explained. "What's your name, what brings you here?"

"Ah, it was a bit of a magical mishap of the sorts. As for my name," the messy man said, pausing ever so slightly. The blue-armoured man narrowed his eyes. "Well, you can call me Fairen."

"Fairen, huh?" the caped man said, one eyebrow slightly raised. "Is that foreign?"

Fairen scratched the back of his head, giving a bashful grin. "Well, I definitely think I'm not from around here. Not sure where 'here' is exactly, anyway."

"You're on the southern road, in the fair kingdom of Ylisse," the caped man said.

Fairen folded his arms. "Doesn't ring a bell," he said, closing his eyes in thought.

"Milord, if I may interject," the armoured man in the back stated, taking a step forward. "I'd heed caution speaking to a man as such. If he has injuries of a magical origin, whatever effects that have harmed him may still be active."

"Who made you the expert in magic?" said the girl.

"No, no, he's right," Fairen said, "well, I mean that he's right in being cautious."

_Although he could afford to lighten up_, Fairen thought, the scrutinizing glare of the blue-armoured man stuck in the corner of Fairen's eye. Then, the girl and the caped man took a step back, slight suspicion their faces.

Fairen waved his hands back and forth. "No, no, no, don't worry. I'm fine. No magical fallout to worry about. Anyway, who are these fine folk who have rescued me along the roadside?"

The caped man smiled. "You didn't appear to be in any immediate danger, but thank you. My name is Chrom. That's my little sister over there, Lissa, and my retainer, Frederick."

"Well then," Fairen said. "Chrom, Lissa, Frederick. Nice to meet you all."

"You too!" Lissa said, leaning in with a grin. Frederick just gave Fairen a sideways look.

"Perhaps the side of the road is a poor place to make long conversation. There is a small town just north of here," Chrom explained, gesturing up the road. "How about we discuss the details of your magical mishap once we get there?"

Fairen smiled in return. "Sure. That's a good idea. Let's go."

The four advanced north along the road, trees passing by.

"So, what brought you all out here anyway?" Fairen said, trying to make small talk. "Out on a quest?"

That gave Chrom a chuckle. "Of the sorts. We are the Shepherds. We're out on a scouting mission south of our capital."

Fairen gave a wary look around. "'Shepherds,' eh? What kind of 'Shepherds?'"

Chrom bore a sly smile. "The kind that searches to aid others in any way we can."

"Ok," Fairen began, confused. "Do you have 'sheep' that you tend to?"

"Yes, we do. It's a dangerous job. Just as Frederick the Wary here."

"A title I shall wear with pride," Frederick added. "Gods forbit one of us keeps an appropriate level of caution. I have every wish to trust you, Fairen, but my station mandates otherwise."

Fairen simply raised an eyebrow, eyeballing Frederick's lance while he rode a large, armoured warhorse. "Just keep the sharp end of that thing pointed away from me, and I think we'll be alright."

Frederick's frown seemed to deepen at Fairen's words.

"Yes, well, we're almost to town," Chrom cut in. "Once we—"

"Chrom, look!" Lissa shouted, pointing off in the distance.

Everyone turned to look. Cresting the top of the hill, the four peered down to a cluster of grey brick buildings in the middle of the plain with the dark plumage of smoke clouds rearing up from different parts of the town.

"Damn it! The town is ablaze! Those blasted brigands, no doubt," Chrom said, turning to Frederick. "Frederick, Lissa! Quickly! We must get there at once!"

Frederick held out his hand out to let Chrom grab on and hoist himself onto the back of the horse, helping Lissa on after.

"What about him?" Frederick asked.

"Unless he's on fire as well, it can wait!"

"Aptly put, milord," Frederick said. Fairen clenched his fists as he stared at the smokey town, teeth grinding under frowning lips.

"Let's go already!" Lissa cried. Suddenly, the three raced off towards the town, leaving Fairen behind in a small cloud of dust.

"Wait!" Fairen said at the last second, wincing and waving away the dirt in his face. The others didn't turn around for him and continued swiftly down the trail. Fairen opened his right hand and took a good look at the palm. Motes of blue electricity ran up and down the life lines etched into his skin, and a few blue sparks blossomed forth before quickly dying out. Fairen hissed through a clenched jaw. Then, he looked back at the town, watching as it was slowly being burned to the ground.

"Injury be damned, I gotta help out!" Fairen told himself, and started to run in the direction of the others with a supernatural speed.

* * *

The outskirts of the town came quickly upon Fairen. The houses and shop buildings were relatively tiny, some above two stories tall but not very wide. The road at some point had become tiled cobblestone that barely held together as the weather and years wore on it. Several structures were already ruined, either by a all-consuming blaze or somehow by sheer force, where entire walls were seemingly taken down and collapsed away from their building. Square windows were shattered, stores were looted, and there was a dangerous sense of chaos that flew along the smoke that blanketed the town's sky.

Fairen had taken a few steps into the village, finding himself alone on the street for the time being. He found a few slumped figures near a couple of buildings. When he squinted he could make out men, women, and even some children lying in their own pools of blood, unmoving. His eyes widened, and he had to lean back and steady himself, holding the back of his hand hand over his mouth as he stilled his breathing to focus.

_So this is the kind of world I've stumbled into_, he told himself after, letting out a big sigh. _I didn't actually think that it'd come to this. But, I guess the Shepherds' swords and staves weren't for monster-hunting._

As he continued further down the path, keeping a lookout for Chrom's party or any survivors, he found some brutish-looking warriors collapsed here and there, most with open wounds in the form of slashes and stabs along their bodies. They tended to be bare-chested, only wearing rough, worn fur coats of some unknown animal across their shoulders and back, the dead skin pulled over the back of their heads like a hood with the skull of some sinister creature sitting atop like crowns. Fairen could spot red body paint splashed across the chest and arms of the barbarian.

There was a high-pitched scream, and Fairen crouched and peered over to a simple two-story building with it's door missing. Out came a woman in a green dress with a pink hat, stumbling over something blocking the bottom of the doorframe as she sprinted forth, her face stricken with fear. A large, imposing man step out from the darkness behind her, his face covered in tiny scars with a crooked, bloodthirsty smile sitting above a jutting chin. He had a large metal battleaxe hoisted over his right shoulder, balanced by his right hand holding the handle.

She scrambled over to the side of the road next to some bowled over produce stands before falling over with a yelp. The man laughed and took long, slow steps towards her in a taunting swagger that suggested overwhelming power.

Fairen growled, then searched his immediate area. There was a battleaxe lying next to the brigand that was slain next to him, and he bend down and attempted to pick it up, grunting with exertion from not expecting the weapon to be so heavy. He shifted his left foot behind him as he leaned back, getting the massive head of the axe off the ground. Looking uncomfortably over his shoulder towards the man advancing on the woman on the ground, he juggled the handle once in his grip before turning and tilting into a full-on sprint towards the two.

"G-Get back!" the woman said, holding up one arm in self defense as she skittered back helplessly. Every time she tried to get up she would wince as her left ankle failed to support her weight and she fell back to the ground. "Everything's in the house! Just take whatever!"

"Oh, but I've already taken everything of worth," the barbarian said, holding out a medium-sized, filled money pouch before tying it back to his backside against his belt. "There's just one thing I would like to know. What's in that little safe of yours in the basement? Has to be something special if it's in the dinky little rut you call a house."

The woman's eyes widened in utter terror. "I don't have the key! My father had it, a-and he's gone! He died with the key in the war! I don't have it!"

"Are you sure I can't convince you otherwise that you do?" the barbarian said, a few feet away from the woman. "Maybe you have it hidden somewhere under that dress of yours, eh? Hiding it away so you can claim it after everything's said and done, after we've plundered every inch of your sad little town, eh?"

As silently as he could, Fairen dashed towards the barbarian, hoisting the axe behind him. The barbarian turned a split second before Fairen reached him and managed to jump back before Fairen's horizontal swing could cleave his target in two. Fairen looked at the barbarian directly in the eye, then with a growl swung again, the barbarian dodging.

"Better teach yourself how to lift more than a pound of flour before swinging an axe, runt!" the barbarian said with a taunting grin. Then, he brought the axe he was resting on his shoulder over Fairen. Fairen deftly side-stepped the blow, leaving the head of the opponent's axe between him and his weapon. With a different speed altogether, Fairen threw his foot out, making contact with the barbarian's chiseled stomach.

"Oof!" the barbarian grunted, not expecting Fairen's sudden agility. Then, Fairen picked his axe back up, and with a battle cry, swung it over his head and aimed to chop the barbarian clean vertically. The axe head smashed into the road, and when Fairen lifted his head up he saw the barbarian a few steps away from where he targeted, staring at the decently-sized crater that the axe left.

_Damn, I'm not fast enough!_ Fairen thought. He bore his teeth and lifted his weapon to the ready once more, only to find the axe had gotten substantially lighter because pieces of the axe's head were strewn about where Fairen had struck. The axe was now just a very sharp and short pole, save a few jagged edges keeping hold of the iron's neck, and Fairen's eyes widened in shock.

The barbarian laughed. "Don't got the best luck in the world, do ya lad?" Then, he rose his own axe up to his shoulder, drove a step forward, and swung across.

The barbarian couldn't catch what happened next. He could have sworn that he caught that oddly clad runt, but when he shifted his gaze down he found the runt had ducked completely underneath his attack. Then, the runt looked up, fire in his eyes, and the barbarian's blood ran cold. He jumped away as his warrior's instincts screamed danger, and not a moment later, the runt had slashed his iron staff across where the barbarian had been.

Fairen glared at his target, visibly gritting his teeth. He felt a familiar magical energy openly flow through him, and he used his plateauing anger and frustration to drive the energy further, lifting the weight of the iron weapon off his tired arms. Then, he suddenly let loose a flurry of swipes, forcing the barbarian on the defensive as he continuously dashed back. When the Barbarian's back met wall, he rose his axe up to catch Fairen's assault. Fairen felt the metal pole vibrate under the blocked strike, then backed up to restart his combo. The barbarian abruptly and desperately threw himself to his left and tried to swing at the same time, aiming to catch Fairen's hip with his axe. Fairen deftly caught the blow, then reflected the barbarian's strength, sending the barbarian stumbling back. Then, Fairen crouched down and waited a moment, watching the Barbarian intently. When the barbarian caught his balance and looked down, Fairen let loose a ferocious axe-kick backflip that had the point of his foot careening with the barbarian's jaw, forcing it shut and snapping the barbarian's tongue in two as he bit down a scream.

The barbarian found himself sprawled on his rear end, a terribly pain emanating from his mouth as what left of his tongue tasted blood. As he looked up he could only see the runt as a shadow leaping high into the air, spinning counter-clockwise with the axe-spear held firmly in his two hands. He could see the focus and power emanating from the runt's eyes as the runt drove down the pointed end of the pole into the barbarian's stomach.

Fairen landed with impact, pushing the air out from underneath him as the barbarian's scream gurgled from the blood flowing from his mouth. Then, Fairen twisted the pole, mixing the barbarian's insides with the ruined axe head, and then lifted the end of the pole and shifted it up, stabbing further into the barbarian's chest, getting right underneath the rib cage. The barbarian began to writhe, his whole body twitching in pain, his eyes empty to the world as he drowned in the red liquid spilling from his tongue. Fairen held the axe in place until a visible puddle of blood gathered underneath the body. Then, he stood up.

He turned to look at the woman he just saved, only to find fear on her face as she sat staring at him. Blinking twice, he tried to relax his face and look friendly and approached her. "Are you ok?"

She too had a moment to think, but couldn't meet him in the eye after. "Y-Yes, I am. He didn't lay a hand on me."

"Can you walk?" he asked, holding out a hand.

She winced, then took his hand. She was almost surprised at the ease with which he pulled her. Standing, she tried leaning on her twisted ankle, then sucked in a breath.

"It hurts, but I think I can walk on it," she told him, holding onto his arm for balance.

"Good," Fairen said. _It's not like I can cast healing right now anyway._ "Do you know where you can find safety? Maybe where other survivors are holed up?"

"Yeah," she said, albeit a bit hesitantly. "The mayor set up a meeting place at the town center."

"Ok. Go ahead and see if it's still there." Fairen craned his head to see what was up north. "There's a party clearing up the baddies that I'm with. I've got to catch up to them. Do you think you'll be ok on your own?"

The woman looked down at her foot and tried testing her weight again, with some success this time. She was able to bounce on her foot a bit without too much soreness. "I think so."

"Alright. Just make sure you exercise caution. Don't go out in the open. Stick to side streets and move from house to house. If you have to cross the street, check the rooftops to make sure no one is spying from above, then check both ways, then go. Do you understand?"

She nodded. He held in a grimace; if he could, he would pick her up himself and carry her to her destination. A long, long ago memory crossed his mind, one where he did the exact same thing during what seemed to be a lifetime ago. "Don't push yourself too hard. If your foot hurts too much, stay in a house and hide. Use your ears to figure out what's going on outside. If there's silence, that's a good thing. Do not show your face unless you recognize someone. Ok?"

She gave a light smile. "Ok."

Fairen gulped. "Ok." He turned his attention back up the road, surveying the trail of destruction that was led both by the barbarians and hopefully by the party that saved him only an hour ago. He heard the woman escape, and he took two steps towards the downed man with the pole through his chest. As he bent down to pick up the axe that was lying behind the barbarian, Fairen looked into the dead empty eyes of his foe, which he found to be a mistake. He frowned, shook his head, tsked, then vowed to focus on finding the others for now. He grabbed the battleaxe, the weapon feeling a bit lighter than the one before it, and headed north through Southtown.

* * *

The closer he got the the center of town, the closer the buildings hugged together. Fairen could easily imagine villagers of different sizes, classes, and genders traversing the tiled roads had it not been for the recent raiding. Most of the citizens seemed to have evacuated at this point, and the destruction seemed to slow down. As he traveled, he spotted a path of dead bodies with various slashes and stab wounds on them, all fresh, all inflicted within the last thirty minutes he thought, and all were made of the same ilk as the previous barbarian he fought. The other bodies that did not look like barbarians Fairen forced himself to ignore. He could recall a time in his past when he had to ignore fresh dead around him, but wished it hadn't been so long that he had forgotten the feeling. To him it seemed like he became soft in the days of peace he'd experienced since then.

He crossed over stone bridges that went over tiny waterways that barely passed as rivers, the blue water reflecting off the clear sky, the bottom of the bank visible from above. Boats were tied to wooden posts at docks dotted here and there throughout the town, forgotten and abandoned at the moment. Once he spotted a mess of broken wood and paddles stuck under a bridge, where a mass of boats tried to get away at the start of the barbarian's attack. He kept a careful eye out for any signs of movement from houses, trying to hug walls of buildings so he could not get easily ambushed from both sides of the street, avoiding windows by crouching beneath them. At this point, he was really starting to regret his lack of magic.

Eventually, he came across a market square where two rivers crossed. The stalls still had fresh produce left on display, but were abandoned, with some tents completely ruined with their payload spilling onto the road. The number of bodies had thickened at this point, and he wondered both how many barbarians invaded the town and how the Shepherds were going to fight their way through so many numbers. Just then, he heard a clashing of metal, and turned towards the noise. It came from behind a wall of market stalls, and Fairen rushed around the wood to see what was going on.

He spotted Chrom engaged with a barbarian wielding another large metal axe, Chrom sporting one or two visible injuries on his persons but still outpacing his opponent in combat. The barbarian bore a wild grin as he charged Chrom and brought the end of his axe down on the earth. Chrom easily jumped back, then lunged forward with is blade, trying to catch the outstretched arms of the barbarian. Fairen took a step forward before noticing a second barbarian heading right Chrom from his flank, stomping forward with iron axe in hand and an equally insane smile as his comrade. Fairen opened his mouth, then his breath hitched as he leaned back, gritting his teeth as Chrom drove forward on the advantage with his target stumbling back.

Fairen broke into a sprint, his legs striding forth with all his might as he raced to catch the barbarian approaching Chrom. Chrom deflected the head of his opponent's weapon, waving his blade to the side with trained grace and professional strength, using his balance and momentum to bring the blade back into a slash, cutting across his opponent's chest. Then, he rose his blade, and his opponent watched with wide eyes as Chrom got close and drove his sword through the gut of his opponent. The barbarian ganking Chrom lifted his axe behind his head and propelled it over himself and through the air, targeting Chrom's sword arm. Just then, Fairen pushed forward, his eyebrows furrowed, and let himself drop to the ground with his feet leading as he transitioned into a slide, dragging his axe behind him. He blew right into the knees of the flanking barbarian, making the barbarian scream in pain as he dropped to the ground, the bottom of his legs twisted in an unnatural manner. Chrom turned his head to look over his shoulder. Using the continuation of his speed, Fairen stuck out a foot to catch it on the road, letting physics pull himself up as he brought his axe up off the ground and behind him. With a fitful shout, he made an overarching swing, putting his whole body into the movement, letting the heavy weapon guide itself through gravity, and struck across the downed barbarian's neck.

When he checked, Fairen found Chrom releasing his weapon from flesh and staring at Fairen's head in surprise. "Fairen. I see you've followed us."

Fairen tried to give a friendly, toothy smile despite the gruesome execution he just committed. "I did. Couldn't stand idly while a village burned like that. Just wish I told you guys fast enough so I didn't have to hoof it alone over here."

"Well," Chrom began, turning towards Fairen and putting his sword back in its sheathe. "I'm sorry that we did not wait for you to catch up. But it's clear to me that you are no stranger to combat. The way you handled that axe was impressive."

"Not really," Fairen said.

"Regardless, we are happy to have you. There is strength in numbers, after all."

Fairen stood up, taking a careful look around the ruined marketplace. "Where are Lissa and, uh, that other guy, anyway?"

Chrom chuckled. "You mean Frederick? I had those two take the western side of the market. They shouldn't be too far off. Follow me. We should rejoin them."

Fairen nodded, and as Chrom turned in the direction he was talking about, he spotted a certain armour-clad horse run towards him with a stalwart paladin and cleric riding its back.

"That's convenient," Fairen noted as Frederick and Lissa caught up to them, the horse stopping at their location.

"Milord," Frederick greeted Chrom, giving Fairen the side-eye. "I see our charge has caught up to us."

Lissa jumped off the horse with practiced ease, firmly gripping her jeweled staff in her right hand. "Fairen! It's great to see you join us! Have you been fighting a lot?"

Fairen opened his mouth, but Chrom beat him to the punch. "Fairen actually saved me from a barbarian that was attacking me from behind. If it weren't for him I would have been in a bit of trouble."

Fairen went wide-eyed at Chrom's sudden admittance and kindness, while Frederick shifted in his horse's saddle, agitated.

"Milord, I warned you about heading off the western side of the block alone. It is too risky to attack an unknown position without someone else there to assist you!" Frederick said.

"I'm sorry, Frederick," Chrom said, bowing slightly in apology. "I'll try to keep that in mind next time. I'll be more careful."

Fairen subtly rose a single eyebrow, and even though Frederick gave a nod and was neutral Fairen still didn't buy that Frederick was convinced. Then Fairen thought about the party dynamics and how Chrom was clearly the leader in it all. If Frederick had been so adamant against Chrom going alone yet let it happen, there was either a lot of trust in Chrom, or there was an unwavering dedication to the leader's commands, Fairen mused.

"Thank you so much for saving Chrom!" Lissa said. "Are you injured? I could fix you up in a jiffy!"

Fairen could only think of the sweat and effort he lost when he put up that awful performance against that earlier barbarian. "No, I'm fine Lissa, thank you.

Lissa turned to Chrom and opened her mouth, but he simply shook his head and waved his hand. "We must find the rest of the barbarians and put a stop to them before they cause more damage."

"Milord, I managed to garner vital information from one of the brigands," Frederick said. "Their leader has taken watch in front of the cathedral."

"Great," Chrom said, grinning. "If we take out their leader, the others will surely disperse." He turned north, where Fairen noticed not far off in the distance was the roof of the cathedral they were speaking about. "Onwards, Shepherds!"

The four of them made their way north around the market stalls, Fairen chewing the inside of his cheek at Chrom's leadership skills. He was off-put at Chrom's finality about the barbarian forces collapsing without a head, and thought he was enjoying calling everyone "Shepherds" too much. Regardless, they made due time, managing to avoid any other encounters along the way. Shortly, they came to a wide bridge crossing a waterway, and after was the cathedral, sizable in its splendor for a town church, a circle of painted glass windows above the double doors that arched the stone steps leading to the entrance. Fairen could already make out a figure wielding a large axe idling next to some crates beside the building.

"There he is," Chrom stated, one hand on the pommel of his sword.

"Are you sure?" Lissa asked. "It's hard to tell all the way back here."

"Well, we'll just have to go and see." Chrom said.

"Milord, if you'd hold for a moment," Frederick said, putting a gentle hand in front of Chrom from horseback. Fairen watched Frederick give the bridge a careful eye, and he had to keep himself from rolling his eyes. "Allow me to cross first."

"What? Frederick," Lissa protested, frowning. "There is no way the bridge is booby-trapped! Let's just go together."

"One must not be too careful when handling brute savages," Frederick said, looking Chrom in the eye for approval. Chrom simply nodded his head, his lips a thin line. Frederick gave one last glare at Fairen, as if he regretted leaving the other two with him, then started his trot across the bridge.

Frederick was not fully across when Fairen crossed his arms and glared at Frederick, not feeling satisfied at having to shoot daggers from his eyes to back end of Frederick's horse. Tapping his right foot a few times, Fairen shook his head then started swiftly stepping out onto the bridge too.

"Fairen?" Chrom said, giving Fairen a questioning expression.

"Come on," Fairen said, turning around and motioning forward. "Fred's worrying way too much. Let's go."

Chrom hesitated for a moment before Lissa, with a happy hop, joined Fairen, holding her staff closely in both hands and grinning. "No complaints from me!" she said. Chrom had to follow after that.

When Frederick reached the other side and turned around to tell the others that the coast was clear, his frown spread across his cheeks when he found Fairen leading Chrom and Lissa.

"I thought I told you to wait," Frederick stated, specifically looking at Fairen.

"We can't stand around for long," Fairen said defiantly, throwing his own glare at Frederick. "There's caution, and then there's just being too orientated towards safety."

Frederick turned his gaze to Chrom for recognition, Chrom just shrugged and turned the other way. Lissa tried to hide her giggle behind her gloved hands.

"I certainly hope your gung-ho attitude will not be the end of you, Fairen," Frederick snidely remarked.

Fairen rolled his eyes then pointed towards the cathedral. "Look, the guy's just right there. Let's figure out if he's the leader, take care of him, and if he wasn't we keep looking. Ok?"

"Right," Chrom said, balling the fingers of his right hand into a fist. "I will deal with him. Frederick, Lissa, Fairen, you all cover me in case any reinforcements appear."

"Chrom," Lissa began, somewhat exasperated. "Remember what happened literally five minutes ago? You went alone into battle and almost got an axe to the back!"

"This time, however," Chrom said, Fairen imagining an invisible finger that was being chidingly waved by Chrom, "You three will stick close to me. If he has back up in the cathedral, I'll need you all to distract them."

_I didn't even think about the possibility of there being more in the cathedral,_ Fairen said to himself with shock and self-shame.

Before anyone could say anything else, Chrom headed forward, forcing Frederick and Lissa to go after. Fairen took a moment to think about how bare bones their plan was before shaking his head and following suit, still carrying that big heavy axe with him over his shoulder. If he was honest, he wanted to be the one to fight the big bad, but was in no condition to do so, and Chrom was probably in a much better state to handle things than him. Fairen shook his head, then started jogging to catch up.

Chrom lead the trail, with the other three behind a few feet. As they approached the large steps to the cathedral, Fairen heard a shout behind him. He turned around and found two other barbarians coming up from behind, their weapons out as they ran at the party. One had an axe, while the other was slimmer in build and wielded a sword.

"Milord!" Frederick cried out. Fairen found Lissa and Frederick looking back too. "We've got more of them coming from behind!"

"Got it!" Chrom shouted back. Fairen saw the leader at the cathedral had noticed them by now and drew his axe, holding his position near the holy building. "You all cover me! I got the leader!"

Just then, Fairen was buffed by a gale of winds from his right side. He had to dig his heels in the ground, blocking his face from the air forces with his arm. A blue glow emanated around his figure for a moment before dispersing just as the wind did. He brought his head up to see a man standing across the river from the east wearing red robes and what he could only describe as a stereotypical wizard's hat. The wizard stared at him in shock, holding a sizable green book in one hand, then took a step back and channeled some sort of energy into his right hand.

"Drat! A mage!" Frederick said, gritting his teeth. Lissa only looked at Fairen in great surprise. "Fairen! We must not allow the mage to interfere with Chrom's battle! I will handle these two! You must go and stop the mage!"

"Got it," said Fairen, nodding. He checked the edge of the pavement right before the river for a bridge, only to find one back near the intersection where they crossed. Fairen got buffed by winds again, and he guarded himself, grunting, the blue glow surrounding him once more.

_Going all the way around's too slow,_ he thought to himself. _Guess I've got to take the hard way then!_

Fairen planted the blunt end of his axe firmly on the ground and chanted a single note. The air around him mysteriously picked up speed in a perfect circle around his figure. Lissa had to pry her attention away as she got on Frederick's horse as a azure aura of flames slowly smoldered from Fairen's form. Only the mage across the river could see Fairen's blazing blue eyes. He took a hold of the axe with one hand near the bottom, started to rapidly spin himself while holding the axe out, tilting towards the river, and finally with a resolute shout he threw the axe with all his might, almost invisible magical flames erupting from his fingertips as the axe left his grip.

The mage went wide-eyed as the axe flew at him at an incredible velocity, and he barely managed to duck in time to avoid the whirling weapon of death. The mage heard a great crash and looked up and behind him to see the end of his hat lying on the ground cut in half, and beyond it a freshly caved-in wall of a building.

Fairen got into a runner's position on the ground, his right foot back with his toe pressed against a piece of the cobblestone road that was sticking out. A short second after, he huffed, looked up, and bore his teeth, a blue inferno still reflecting off his eyes. Without warning, he took off, the air around him caving in as he created a large draft in his wake. When he reached the ledge to the river, he leaped, his raw speed carrying him through the open air and over the water. He managed to reach the other side with little inches to spare, crouching down upon landing to absorb the impact of gravity's force.

Then, he turned his attention to the mage, who was even more surprised to suddenly see the insane axe-thrower over the river beside him. Fairen rushed forward, bringing his fist low. The mage panicked, fumbling with his book and quickly slinging a green spell from his right hand. Fairen deftly dodged the projectile, the wind magic leaving dust and cut-up stone where it landed on the road, and reached the mage, shouting, his fist glowing blue as time seemed to freeze in that moment: the mage utterly frightened by Fairen's furious face just a measly half-foot away.

Fairen delivered a punch with a crack, sending the mage several meters up into the air before he fell limp into the river with a splash that kicked water high enough to reach the road's edge. Fairen had his eyes closed, his head tilted down while his fist shook. He growled as the last remnants of his attack flew upwards in black cinder, like a small fire dying out. Static started lancing up and down his punching arm, and he had to hold it to keep it from shaking, pain lancing up and down the shocked limb.

_That felt good,_ Fairen thought. _Real good. But I think I overdid it a bit. Probably shouldn't do something like that for a while._

"What the?-"

Fairen looked up. Emerging from the entrance of the alley was a monster of a man, arms filled with muscle, body hair lining up and down his limbs and open chest. The small tussle of hair on top of his head had the consistency of dried hay, and stuck up every which way. There was a constant murderous gleen in his eyes despite his shocked expression, stubble dotted around his lips and over the edge of his sharp jaw. He adorned the same clothes as all the other barbarians, albeit three sizes larger to make up for his astounding build. He was reaching behind his back with his calloused, blood-dried hands to grab a worn, solid, and clearly steel axe.

"I leave for three bloody minutes," the man said, bringing his weapon to his front, "and everything goes belly up! What in the name of Grima happened to my men?"

Then, the man's gaze met Fairen's. Immediately, the man's expression went from shock to determination, with a smirk fueled by bloodlust.

Fairen felt the blood drain from his face. He whipped his head to look over his shoulder, finding Chrom in combat with the brigand at the front of the cathedral, who was increasingly looking not like the leader of the town's raiders. Lissa and Frederick were fighting off one other opponent that he couldn't clearly discern.

When Fairen brought his attention back up front, he only had a breath of a second to dodge the incoming slash aimed at his face.

Fairen slid to a stop a few feet back, trying to find his breath, only to have to dodge a second strike, then a third, all horizontal attack aimed at cleaving him in two. He couldn't believe how fast the man was for his size!

The brigand leader slowly approached Fairen, almost gleefully. "You don't happen to be the one to orchestrate this counter-attack, did you?" He took another swipe at Fairen, forcing Fairen to retreat further. "Maybe you know the dastard who did?" Another swing, another dodge. "Couldn't be the town's doin', we cut up the sorry lot they called guards just fine."

Fairen lost his balance on a slanted cobblestone tile in his backstep, and he had to duck under the next swipe the leader threw. Breathing heavily, he could not catch a break, nor find an opening long enough to gather his stamina.

The attacks seemed to get faster and faster, forcing more urgent movement out of Fairen. He felt himself heat up as sweat beads rolled down his temples. When the leader reeled back for a brief second before his swing, Fairen tried throwing a sideways punch at the leader's cheek. The leader daftly shoved the haft of the battleaxe up, deflecting the blow and throwing Fairen's arms up, leaving him wide open. Fairen watched in horror as the leader sneered, then ducked down to charge his power.

The axe blade swung right into Fairen's torso sideways, landing between his ribs and hips. As the metal seemed to cut into the cloth of his shirt, a blue glow emanated between the axe head and Fairen. A light blue barrier appeared over Fairen, then suddenly a brilliant flash of light exploded out, followed by the sound of shattering sheets of glass. The leader stumbled back, screaming and holding his eyes, while Fairen was blasted back in a gale of force. He tumbled toes over head as he bounced thrice against the ground, landing a few meters away on his stomach.

He struggled to get up, having to dig deep to find the strength in his arms to prop remove himself from the ground. When he was at least on all fours, he froze, his breath hitching in his throat. Frantically he patted down his stomach with his right hand, then looked down at his body as he sat up on his knees. His other hand joined the searched, and after a second of self-examination, he paused, his chest heaving for oxygen, his expression stricken with intense fear.

"What in the bloody blue blazes was that?" the leader groaned, rubbing one eye with a knuckle, the other giving a dirty look at Fairen. He stood hunched over, knees bent, his steel axe at his side. "Some kind of flashy mage shit? Damn wizard, I'll carve a hole out of your skull!"

Suddenly returning to the moment, Fairen got on his feet, knees shaky, and slowly and carefully backed up from the leader. The leader shouted out a scream of pure rage and charged Fairen, raising his axe high up in the air. The gap was closed in mere seconds. Fairen shut off his mind, couldn't think, couldn't analyse in such a short amount of time, and let his body move for him. The leader leaped up in the air and descended rapidly onto Fairen. When his opponent got close, Fairen dashed under the barbarian leader, rolled onto his back and planted his hands above his shoulders on the ground behind him. The leader watched Fairen move and swung his blade lower to match Fairen's maneuver. Fairen flattened his head against the pavement, sucked in his stomach, and brought in his legs before shooting them out in a powerful double-kick aimed at the leader's torso. Fairen's feet connected against chest, winding the leader, but the leader still attempted to follow through with his swing, aiming down. Fairen pushed and launched the leader over himself as the axe barely missed him and passed between his legs.

The leader landed on his back but then rolled to a stop, managing to turn around and face Fairen in a crouch with his left leg sticking out to stabilize himself. He wiped scattered saliva off the corner of his lips, skin tugging on his stubble, and growled.

Fairen worked to get up and then stared ahead at his opponent, hunched over. He knew that what he was doing wasn't working, and he was getting fatigued, and fast. His mind raced for viable combat strategies. An idea occurred to him, and he forced his breathing to calm despite his racing heart. From within, he took power that was emanating from his body and limbs, and began to pull it inward, forcing it to the core of his being with trained precision. Heat warmed his blood and muscles, and his vision seemed to focus, but emotion filled a well that was previously occupied by confusion and anxious desperation.

The two combatants met gazes.

Then, with a scratchy battle cry, the leader charged forward, his axe dragging behind him as he hoisted it back for a blow. Fairen rose his fists in a fighting stance and let out a breath between pursed lips, trying to match his breathing with the leader's surging footfalls. Suddenly, the leader dashed forward from his sprint and threw his axe down vertically. Fairen dodged at the last second, and the leader eyeballed him in a fury, blood vessels visible in his eyes and converging on his irises. Another quick swing from the leader almost caught Fairen by surprise, and he deftly evaded once again. He could feel the flow of battle fuel his efforts to drag energy within himself, and the effects of his channeling multiplied.

The leader, more drool leaving the ends of his maw, was heaving with each and every breath as he swung again and again and again, and the damned freak-mage dodged every single attack. He grit his teeth as he watched Fairen's speed seemingly increase, agile movement spurred on by some strange acceleration originating from Fairen's lower body. The leader hunkered down and was about to twist the hand holding the axe handle for a quick upward blow.

Suddenly, Fairen jabbed in an instant, attacking the leader's gut and leaving the leader breathless, eyes bulging. The leader tried to throw out the butt of the handle but Fairen dexterously hopped back then immediately forward and let out a one-two punch at the leader's nose, followed by a roundhouse kick that sent the leader careening back.

The leader landed in a heap a few meters away, his nose bleeding, but Fairen watched as the leader got up once again. Fairen could feel the energy course through him. It filled his head with a buzz, and his eardrums vibrated with a low hum that seemed to drive outward through his entire being. There were sparkles in his eyesight, the colours were all saturated and tinted red, and he could feel the air being pushed in and out of his lungs sweep past the walls of his throat and the roof of his nasal cavity and mouth. It was power, his power. He built it up quickly, no, too quickly, he thought, and he fought to contain the murderous rage growing inside him. The sensation was growing into a mixed pain, and Fairen felt his instincts were suddenly screaming at him to release it all.

Fairen curled his right hand into a fist and brought it close under his chest. Then, he bent his knees and began to focus on that one spot. The leader stared at his opponent as a visible flaming aura emerged from Fairen's being. Fairen audibly hummed as he gathered some sort of supernatural strength, and blue lighting started to jump up and down his arms and legs between intermittent pauses. The leader shouted, spewing spittle and blood, grabbing his weapon firmly as he raced forward, desperate to prevent whatever his opponent was pulling next.

Fairen looked up from his hand, teeth bared, eyes furious and emitting a sky-shaded light. The leader hadn't even gotten close before Fairen reeled back, sliding one foot back behind the other, right arm bent with his fist holding red energy and his left arm out before him for balance. He shot forward and gave a cry, throwing a punch with enough force to carry the rest of his body forward a few inches. A circle of air distorted light around the space where Fairen's punch traveled through, and a crashing boom rang out, the ground slightly shaking. A faint blue cylindrical light blasted forth from the end of his fist, and Fairen had to hold onto his punching arm with the opposite hand to stabilize. The light hit the leader squarely in the chest, shooting the leader back hard into the building behind him.

Still looking at the leader, Fairen's eyes fluttered as he sagged and tilted. Suddenly, more electricity shocked his figure and he gasped in agony before collapsing on his back. A ring formed from his splayed out limbs, where static jumped freely to and fro. He winced, vision blurry and partially blinded by the setting sun.

_Damn, that hurts,_ Fairen thought. _I think I over did it again._

There was silence, and a ringing in his ears. He was too weak and in pain to move, exhaustion sapping the strength from his body. All he could do was observe the smoke from the town's burning buildings mingle with the stray orange-tinted clouds in the sky. Then, he became aware of an odd scraping sound that was headed towards him. Out of the corner of his vision, he could see a figure stand over him to his left. His vision began to fix, and he realized with reigned horror that it was the brigand leader, chest and upper belly blackened with a large bruise, blood dribbling out of the leader's fat red lips. His arms hung limply at each side, except Fairen noticed the handle of the axe still being held in the right hand of his opponent.

_Fuck, he's still alive?_ Fairen thought.

The leader narrowed his eyes, then grabbed the axe's handle with both hands and brought the weapon around himself to his back, his arms pulled over above his shoulders. Fairen still couldn't move. He managed to lift his head up and crane it so he could have a better view of the leader about to kill him. The leader grunted and his arms began to shake as he tried to lift the axe up and above and over him.

Abruptly, Fairen could hear rapid footsteps coming from some ways away, then was surprised to see a body ram right into the leader from behind. The shining blade of a longsword was sticking out of the leader's torso from his back, and the leader gurgled before he left go of his axe, losing all strength. Fairen tilted his head to the side to try and see who just was behind the leader. The blade was pulled out with a shink and the brigand's now lifeless body was pushed to the side.

The wonderful figure of Chrom, hair a bit matted and face a bit dirty, filled Fairen's vision as Chrom pulled his attention away from his kill.

"Fairen," Chrom began, taking a step forward and kneeling on the ground. "Are you ok?"

Fairen flexed his arms and legs, and found he could move them again. "Just about, I guess," he croaked.

Chrom lent out his hand for Fairen, which Fairen gladly took, and Fairen was quickly pulled up to his feet, his senses going for a loop as blood rushed from his brain.

"This situation feels familiar to me," Chrom quipped with a soft grin.

"Deja vu," Fairen agreed, eyes slightly crossed. He could only see stars, and he coughed. "We've got to stop meeting like this.

Chrom's smile only widened further before Fairen stumbled forward and Chrom moved forward to catch him. He let Fairen balance against him for a moment, then got under a single shoulder. Just then, Frederick rode up to Fairen and Chrom from the road, Lissa on tow behind Frederick.

"Milord," Frederick greeted, coming to a stop near Chrom.

"Frederick," Chrom said back. He motioned with his head towards the dazed Fairen. "I guess our road straggler here has more than proven his skills and loyalty, eh?"

Frederick gave Fairen a sideways look and frowned as he said nothing. Lissa hopped off the horse, clutching her mending staff firmly.

"Fairen!" Lissa called out. Fairen managed to focus enough to look back at her glowing, wide yellow eyes. She kept her staff close to herself until she reached Fairen, then extended the staff out above Fairen's head. The top of the staff began to glow with a fairy-blue light. "That was amazing! How did you do all of that?"

"You saw that?" Fairen said, trying to look at Lissa from around the staff.

"Most of it. I saw you fight after we dealt with our barbarians," Lissa said, looking for something on Fairen's figure that Fairen couldn't figure out. "Chrom was already headed towards you, but we still got here as fast as we could. I'm sorry we couldn't help you fight that guy."

"It's ok," Fairen said, wincing with one eye as he shuddered from remaining motes of soreness.

"You did a fair job regardless," Chrom complimented, looking from Fairen to Lissa. "All of you."

"It is but my duty, my lord," Frederick said.

Fairen gave a bleary-eyed look at Chrom, to which Chrom only smiled back at.

"Hmm, that's odd," Lissa began, pulling her staff back and letting the magic die down. "I can't find any physical injuries on you. Are you being affected by those 'magical' injuries of yours again?"

It was Fairen's turn to smile. "You catch on quick." He leaned away from Chrom to which Chrom sensed and allowed, getting away from Fairen's shoulder. Fairen bounced on the ends of his a couple of times, testing his balance and strength. "I just need some time to catch my breath, that's all. Got a bit conked out in that fight."

"That barrier you did earlier was awesome," Lissa said, glowing. "I didn't know you could cast magic without a staff!"

"Yeah, my magic's probably a lot different than the magic you know, Lissa," Fairen said.

"What was all that glowy-blue stuff you did against the brigand leader?" Lissa asked.

"Adrenis magic," Fairen simply said. "It's hard to explain."

"If we could adjourn the discussion on magic for the moment, I highly suggest we check the town for survivors and notify them of the situation," Frederick said, interrupting.

Chrom nodded. "If there are any stragglers, we'll be able to shoo them away too." Then, Chrom bent down and picked up the steel axe lying on the ground. "If these dastards have even a lick of sense to them, they'll see their leader's weapon and know that the gig's up."

"Good idea," Fairen commented. "I heard from a lady I rescued that most of the villagers are probably at the town center. We should check there."

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Lissa said, excitement radiating from her standing on her tippy toes and her balling up her fists. Fairen couldn't help but smile, the sunset progressing smoothly. As the group walked away, Fairen experimentally rolled a shoulder and tried to hide his resulting flinch. He thought about how even though everything seemed to turn out fine he'd have to stretch out some sore muscles later in the very least. Worse was the state of his stamina: He was fatigued, and normal breathing took conscious effort from him as his muscles seemed to sag and falter. Above all else, however, was the sensation, or lack there of, of magic from his being. His protective charm was gone, the one that he kept up for so long, and he didn't know when he could be capable of casting the next one. He grabbed a hold of the swinging ruby pendant swinging from his neck and clenched his fingers, hoping that he'd be able to gather perseverance from himself for the tasks ahead.

* * *

**Author's Post-Chapter Notes:**

I'm very familiar with fanfiction writing, and am a veteran at it, but I'm not too familiar with the fanfiction-dot-net website specifically, so I hope that I can navigate everything on the necessary webpages smoothly.

Don't expect updates too frequently. I have been writing this for literally months, which is sad because I've actually barely begun to write anything. The only reason this is out is because I pushed myself to actually finish it after reading too many fan fictions that I think suck and feel like I can do a lot better. Gotta release something to actually put my money where my mouth is, though, which is why this is published now.

I will try and write on a regular basis for this story, but I have a life, I have school, yadda-yadda-yadda. Writing fanfiction is a hobby, and I haven't done it consistently for around four years now, so don't get your hopes too far up. That being said, My motivation to write will either skyrocket or bomb depending on how much feedback I get.

I have an idea about how I want this story to go, but I haven't written an outline yet. I will get to that eventually, probably before the next chapter is released, because if I have learned anything from writing, it's that writing novel-length works without a story outline is really, really shitty. Your writing will probably be really trash as a result because you can't possible keep track of every single plot detail that goes into your works, especially if you've writing a chapter over several days/weeks/months.

Are there proofreaders on this website? Aren't they called beta readers? Can anyone explain that to me?

One last thing to note are the end-chapter level-ups I'll be giving to the main character. This is just a fun little thing I'll be doing as the story progresses.

* * *

LEVEL UP!

Fairen

Class: Explorer

Level: 1 + 1 = 2

HP: 18 + 1 = 19

STR: 4 + 1 = 5

MAG: 6 + 1 = 7

SKL: 5 + 1 = 6

SPD: 7

LCK: 1

DEF: 5

RES: 6 + 1 = 7

MOV: 5

Level-up Quote: "I'm going the distance."

WEAP. LVL: Sword = E, Axe = E, Lance = E

Skills Equipped:

\- Scrapper: Can use any melee weapon, but gains no weap. exp.


	2. Chapter 1: Between Two Worlds

Fairen and the Shepherds had no problems locating the lingering barbarian crowd in Southtown and giving them the boot. Most were privy to leaving with their lives, but for those who charged at Chrom in rage of their dead leader, they were dealt with by force, much to Chrom's unease and Fairen's indifference. Within an hour of defeating the brigand leader, the small village was free of invaders.

"Did you notice, milord?" Frederick mentioned. The group headed back to the Town Centre to make sure whoever survived was alright. "The brigands spoke with a Plegian accent."

"Plegian?" Fairen asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Plegia is Ylisse's westerly neighbour," Chrom explained, one hand casually on the pommel of his sword as he turned his head slightly to look at Fairen. "They send small bands into our territory, hoping to instigate a war."

Fairen made a face. "Yeesh. A whole war?"

"Yes! And it's the poor townsfolk who suffer! Totally innocent, and totally helpless..." piped in Lissa, who hopped in front of Fairen, her hands balled up in genuine anger.

"They do have us, milady: Shepherds to protect the sheep. Do not be swept up in your anger. It will cloud your judgement." Frederick said.

"I know, I know," Lissa said, looking tired all of the sudden. "Don't worry. I'll get used to all this eventually."

_They sure do hang on to that shepherds analogy_, Fairen thought discreetly."Has anyone tried to stop them before they cross kingdoms? Maybe set up more strict border patrols?"

"They cross under the thick of night and away from main roads," Fredrick explained, "and we do not have enough soldiers to cover the entirety of the Ylissian-Plegian border."

"Why's that? How big's the border, anyway?"

"It covers more than half the continent. And knights have been deployed," Chrom said, folding his arms but giving a lighthearted smirk. "We Shepherds are part of said deployments, after all."

"Huh?" Fairen stopped to gawk at Chrom. "The three of you is all that the kingdom has?"

The other three paused and turned towards him. "Well, we're not all that the kingdom has," Chrom said, albeit with a grumbling tone.

"I was joking, Chrom."

"Oh," Chrom said, taking a moment to consider Fairen's humour. "There are other patrols, too." he clarified.

"And Shepherds!" Lissa chimed in with a smile. "They're at home base, though. It's just us for this mission."

"Alright. And mission accomplished?" Fairen said.

Lissa and Frederick turned to Chrom expectantly. Fairen couldn't help but smile.

"Mission accomplished," Chrom firmly stated. "We're heading back to Ylisstol as soon as we can."

Fairen watched Lissa breathe a sigh of relief, one that she didn't try to hide. Frederick appeared as stoic as ever. Everyone continued down the road, eventually reaching the Town Centre. Many villagers were safely hidden within the reinforced, armoured rooms, all unharmed after hiding silently within the tall wooden walls of the structure. After Chrom arrived and let everyone know it was safe to come out, a huge celebration was in motion as the villagers cheered for the removed brigands. Some mourned for the loss of lives to the bandit scum, but others congratulated the Shepherds for saving their lives.

The mayor personally asked Chrom to stay the night and honour their victory, to which Frederick declined for the group, much to Lissa's chagrin.

"I'm afraid we haven't gotten much of an opportunity to talk about that magical mishap of yours," Chrom said to Fairen, turning to him after finishing up some details with the mayor, hands on his hips. "Even after going all this way to speak about it."

"Yeah. Kinda forgot about that." Fairen agreed. Suddenly, he realized that Lissa and Frederick's attention were caught, with the former stopping her complaining about the quality food they were dodging.

"Tell me," Chrom said. "What's your next move? Do you plan to stay here in Southtown?"

Fairen looked over his shoulder at the slightly ruined landscape behind him, some buildings torn down from assault, smoke from remaining fires floating against the orange sunset sky. "Umm, I don't know, exactly. I was just gonna lay low for a while until I could get my bearings."

"I have an offer for you, if you don't have any particular place to stay in mind," Chrom said.

"Milord," Frederick cut in, "don't you think it's too hasty to make such an offer to an individual of unknown motive and origin?"

_Frederick knows exactly what Chrom is about to offer me only after hearing one sentence, But obviously, this offer's been made many times before, _Fairen noted, looking back and forth between the two.

Chrom's gaze onto Fredrick gained a slightly stern angle. "Frederick, Fairen fought to save Ylissean lives. My heart says that's enough."

Fredrick looked like he had something else to say, but ultimately kept his mouth shut as Chrom turned back to Fairen.

"All three of us here have witnessed your skill and bravery today. You threw yourself into the fire without nary a second thought. Because of your help, the entire village was saved."

Fairen peered at an especially interesting piece of the roadwork, scratching the back of his neck. "That's blowing things a little out of proportion, don't you think?"

"No way!" Lissa said. "You were a big help today, Fairen!"

"It would be a shame to lose someone like you. The Shepherds could use every single able-bodied, skilled warrior out there."

Chrom held out a hand toward Fairen, catching Fairen off guard.

"How about it? Will you join us, Fairen?" Chrom asked.

Fairen's eyes wandered to the upper corner for a second, before he focused on Chrom's open, gloved palm, then at Chrom's friendly, grinning expression.

_Quite the diplomat, this lord is,_ Fairen thought. "So, the Shepherds are knights who defend the kingdom, eh?"

"That is the basis of our primary objectives as a militant group, yes."

Fairen closed his eyes, put his hands to his hips, and sighed through pursed lips, rocking back and forth on his toes and shaking his head. Lissa's smile disappeared as her eyebrows became creased with worry, and Chrom's jaw dropped with words he couldn't find at the moment.

Then, Fairen's hand firmly grasped Chrom's, and shook.

"I'm not one-hundred percent sure about the job," Fairen stated, "But I sure do like the company."

Chrom's face reignited, and Lissa gave an excited giggle. Frederick just gave Fairen a sideways look as he turned his steed away towards the path on the road north.

* * *

Much later, the sun had hidden itself behind the low mountains afar on the northwest, igniting the sky in a beautiful shawl of a deep red that faded to the dark, night sky in a gradient the higher up one looked. A few clouds kept to themselves up in the heavens, but there was no threat of rain to be seen, a warm southern wind lightly breezing by the backs of the four Shepherds as they continued down a slightly worn dirt path. Trees and shrubs lay before them within the landscape surrounding the trail, reflecting an orange shade from the burning atmosphere. Few wildlife could be seen through their trek, save the chirping birds that fluttered across the road on occasion.

Lissa put her hands on her hips and pouted.

"Look, it's gotten even darker already," Lissa said.

Fairen rolled his eyes. She had been at it since the sun touched the horizon. He gauged Chrom's reaction, only to not find any.

"Ech! And the bugs!" Lissa continued, making a face and swatting at something in front of her. "I think they've come out now!" Suddenly, her eyes went wide and she stuck out her tongue, then started to daintily wipe it with the back of her gloved hand. "Won goph in mah mouph! Blech!"

Lissa proceeded to hydrate the nearby tree with her spit, which Fairen did not expect in the slightest.

Finally, Chrom gave a response, loosely tilting his head. "Come on now, Lissa. Hardship builds character. Want to help me gather firewood?"

Lissa was still in the middle of nursing her taste buds, cat-style. "I think I swallowed it. Gross." She proceeded to wipe the slobber-side of her gloves onto the sides of her battle dress. "I'll pass on finding firewood, thanks. I think I've built quite enough character for one day."

"Good job defusing that," Fairen whispered to Chrom, discreetly leaning over.

Suddenly, a loud, gurgling bubbled growl disturbed the group, and they all paused to look at Fairen.

"Sorry," he said, giving an awkward smile and scratching the back of his neck. "Guess hunger caught up to me."

Frederick nodded. "I should think a little hunting and gathering is in order. Now, who wants to clear a campsite?"

* * *

Chrom held the simple hunting bow with his left hand from behind a dying, orange brush, trying to keep the nocked arrow steady while aligning the sight of his single open eye down the shaft of the arrow. Fairen could see Chrom's pulling hand slightly tremble. After a moment, where the wind blew past in a movement and the trees' branches waved to and fro, Chrom took a breath, held it, then released the bow's string.

The arrow flew past several tree trunks and under leaves only to land wide left of a grown doe's left flank, causing the animal to leap away from its grazing spot.

"Damn it," Chrom said under his breath, tightening the grip on his bow as his arms relaxed. He stared at where the shot landed, replaying the moment in his head to try and find where he went wrong, the quiver of a dozen or so arrows slung over a shoulder and hanging next to his hip.

"You still tired from the battle earlier?" Fairen asked. Chrom turned to address him only to meet a friendly, worried gaze.

"I'll admit, I didn't foresee myself hunting for game after running my sword arm through fifty bandits," Chrom said with a slight smile.

"You were the one who volunteered to look for food," Fairen pointed out. "And the one who talked about hardship building character."

Chrom shook his head, smirking. "I guess you're right."

Fairen stood up, to which Chrom followed. "You want me to give it a try?" Fairen asked.

"Alright," Chrom said, offering the bow. Fairen took it, then Chrom began to sling the quiver off his shoulder. "Do you know how to use it?"

"I have a bit of experience," Fairen said, examining the woodwork of the bow, holding the quiver's leather straps in his other hand. He quickly put on the quiver, held the bow by the grip, and took an arrow and nocked it in the string. The wind started to blow again, and Fairen turned in the direction the air was heading, his long, pointy brown hair flowing with nature's breath.

"Follow me quickly," Fairen said. Before Chrom could really process Fairen's words, Fairen suddenly dashed off west down a slope.

Chrom ran after Fairen, taken off guard by Fairen's sudden speed. He crashed through bushes and slipped past tree trunks, trying to keep up with the image of Fairen's back as Fairen somehow deftly navigated the forest foliage with ease. Several times Chrom opened his mouth, then closed it as he ducked beneath a bundle of hanging branches or pushed leaves out of his face, acutely aware of the crunching that their heavy footsteps were making.

"Fairen, wait!" Chrom finally managed to get out, bursting forth from behind a particularly large tree, only to almost run into the man as Fairen stood deathly still, the arrow still nocked on the bow. Fairen turned his head to shush Chrom over his shoulder, then returned to his impression of a statue, Chrom trying to copy his frozen state, wondering what in blazes was going on. The breeze returned, showering the two in a brief wave of warmth taken from the welcome weather and the heated season.

Moments passed.

Just then, Fairen knelt down on one knee, swiveled to aim left over his posted knee, and rose the bow, pulling the string, his back straight and chest out. Chrom dropped down just as Fairen did, then looked in the direction Fairen was aiming. His eyes widened as he saw another deer standing off in the distance, barely visible between the trees and foliage.

Fairen let fly the arrow. It soared, whizzing past tree bark, slicing through forest, and reaching towards the neck of the doe.

The arrow narrowly missed, startling it and making it take off in a panic. The arrow got lost in the density of the bushes.

Fairen snapped his fingers, standing up. "Nuts. I was sure I had that."

"How did you know that deer was there?" Chrom asked in amazement.

Suddenly, a loud roar shook the area, causing several birds in the trees to up and leave their roosts all at once in a burst of movement and noise. Fairen and Chrom got low and started searching the area, Chrom putting his hand onto his sword pommel without thinking.

"What was that?" Fairen said.

Then, something rapidly tore apart the bushes several meters away from Fairen and Chrom. The ground shook some more, and Fairen could hear the telltale foley of tree branches smashing under the weight of their tree being knocked down. Fairen and Chrom turned their heads east, the rumbling getting more and more violent.

A giant black bear emerged into the scene, rearing up on its hind legs. It easily towered over the two men before them, reaching two-and-a-half times their height, its claws shining with sharpness, liters of stinking, fish-smelling saliva dripping down from its partially open maw. It let out another roar, and Fairen noticed a peculiar arrow sticking out of the bottom flank of the massive beast.

"Uh oh," said Fairen.

* * *

"It's been too long since I last had bear meat," Chrom commented after taking a large bite of a slab of meat cooked over the campfire he sat at. He had a bandage over his left arm, which had a slight tinge of red, but Lissa was right beside him, her staff out towards the injury, the blue orb at the top of the staff glowing slightly as Lissa channeled healing.

"I'm really thankful you had your sword with you," Fairen said, holding the bone of his piece of bear meat upright, letting it cool a bit in the mild, calm evening air. The sun had completely gone down half an hour ago, and it was just the last remnants of the sun's rays and the light of the campfire illuminating the four Shepherds surrounding the burning wood as they sad on the bear earth.

Frederick, who was still cooking a piece that hung inches over licking flames, gave a dead-eyed stare at Chrom, and then at Fairen. "I am still alarmed at the fact that you both found a way to stumble into danger despite the lack of bandits. And, our new recruit's lack of weaponry at the time makes one consider where his loyalties truly lie."

Fairen threw his arms up in his defense. "Hey man, I expected finding a large, hostile bear exactly as much as Chrom did. And I really don't feel like lugging that big thing around if I can help it." Fairen indicated to the iron battleaxe resting against the nearby tree with a point of his thumb over his shoulder and a tilt of his head.

"I'm just glad you both got back in one piece," Lissa stated, lowering her staff having finished the last of her healing.

"And we managed to catch dinner too," Chrom said between bites. "Without Fairen's strength, we might not have been able to get the bear back to camp. Not without Daisy, anyway."

The horse, Frederick's steed, who was tied up to a nearby tree and was grazing, raised her head at the mention of her name, and snickered at Chrom.

Fairen gave a shy smile. "It was the least I could do at the moment."

Chrom had notably gone back to his meal, chowing into it like no tomorrow, letting the crackles of the fire take reign over the conversation for a moment.

After swallowing a large chunk of bear, Chrom eyeballed Lissa's side of the fire as she held her food timidly, giving it a look and holding it away from herself. "What's wrong, Lissa? Dig in."

Lissa grimaced. "Gods, couldn't you have at least been attacked by a big bunny rabbit, or deer or something? Something that normal people eat?" Lissa said, emoting with hunched shoulders, wide eyes, and furrowed eyebrows. "I mean, come on! Who in the wide, wide world eats bear? You're just messing with the food chain! Right, Fairen?"

Fairen gave no answer to his prompt.

"Uh," Lissa said, turning to Fairen. "Fairen?"

Lissa only found Fairen eating his bear at a pleasant pace with no complaints and a smile on his face. He blinked twice at Lissa after figuring out she was talking to him. "Hmm? You say something?"

Lissa sighed. "Figures. I guess someone would enjoy eating just about anything after lying unconscious for gods know how long."

Fairen laughed, bear meat juices slathered around his lips. "The meat's rough and chewy, but I'll admit, I've eaten much worse. I'll take bear over bloodsucking-bug egg stew any day."

Chrom, Frederick, and Lissa, all gawked at Fairen, not knowing what to say.

"Ewwww!" Lissa broke the silence and cringed away from Fairen, barely holding onto her meal with just two fingers.

"Sounds like you've lived an interesting life, Fairen," was all Chrom could respond.

"It was during a, uh, expedition in a jungle," Fairen said, rubbing his chin, his eyes searching the night sky. "Can't find normal berries or woodland mammals in a jungle, so we had to adapt. One of the local recipes involved stealing the eggs of these giant, flying bloodsucking bugs called mariyrnen and boiling them in a cauldron. The taste wasn't bad, but oh boy, you do not want to look at what you're eating while you're eating it."

"That sounds awful!" Lissa commented. "Almost like you're eating big mosquito eggs."

Fairen pointed at Lissa with a smile. "Yeah, mariyrnen are kinda like giant mosquitos. Got to meet a few of them. Pretty hostile. Had these long, tube-like mouths to suck the juices out of you."

Fairen didn't seem to notice that Lissa visibly paled. She tossed her bear meat into the campfire with a sigh.

"Now I really don't feel hungry," Lissa said, slouching over and resting her chin on her hands."

"Milady," Frederick said, alarmed. "I must ask that you do not waste food. If you absolutely cannot eat it, give it to Chrom or I."

"Whatever, Frederick," Lissa replied glumly. "It's your fault that we're not back at Southtown eating decent dinner food anyway."

"Every experience makes us stronger, milady," Frederick said with patience. "Even those we don't enjoy."

Fairen frowned at Lissa's childish behaviour.

"Really?" Lissa started, giving a knowing scowl. "Then why don't I see you eating, Frederick?"

"Me? Oh, well..." Frederick's eyes and eyebrows shot up. He peered down at his own piece of untouched, cooked bear flesh, then back at Lissa's accusatory gaze along with Chrom's curious eyeballing. "I'm not hungry. I... I had a large lunch! Yes, quite."

"Yeah, right," Lissa said, rolling her eyes. Fairen had to hide his smile with the back of his hand while he silently laughed.

* * *

Finally, at some point, the Shepherds bid each other good night and fell asleep around the dying embers of what was left of the campfire. Chrom found it interesting how Fairen asked about scouting shifts, and reassured Fairen that they were mostly safe from nighttime raids by being this far into the boarder and that Frederick had the ears much like a wild wolf and could pick up anyone trying to ambush them easily in his sleep. Fairen turned to Frederick only to get a confident nod from the veteran knight. Accepting his situation, Fairen surrendered himself to slumber, his last thoughts before unconsciousness about how, somehow, none of the Shepherds thought to bring a single sleeping bag with them and they had to sleep on the tough, hard, and bare ground.

Admittedly, Chrom dipped in and out of sleep as the night progressed. Shifting around on his back and trying to get comfortable, he rose his left arm and let his head roll the other way, facing sideways. Trying to get a grasp of the fleeting sandman, Chrom opened his eyes a smidge, preparing them to close them back, when a ruby glow shimmered between his eyelashes covering his vision.

He blinked, then fluttered his eyes open. He found himself staring at Fairen's unmoving form, except Fairen wasn't lying on the ground asleep. Chrom planted his hand on the ground and sat up, letting out a confused note though his lips. Fairen faced away from Chrom, towards the bark of a tree that stayed still in the darkness, and Chrom could spot the glowing red hue that Fairen was emitting bounce off the ridged oak surface.

Chrom began to get to his feet. "Fairen?"

Fairen turned his head enough to look over his shoulder, and Chrom froze, his breath hitched halfway up his throat. Fairen's eyes were a straight crimson hue, illuminating dark red light to wherever his irises were pointing, casting a haunting tone of maroon shadows over his visage. His ruby pendant was glowing with the same shade and intensity as his eyes were.

"A portal," Fairen said, breathless. His voice seemed a bit odd to Chrom.

"Fairen, are you alright?" Chrom asked, standing up fully but keeping his back bent and his head low with arms out.

Suddenly, Fairen got up with enough dexterity that it was as if he was never asleep in the first place, and accelerated to a sprint west into the deep woods.

"Fairen!" Chrom called, trying to will the rest of his body awake as he scrambled to chase after him. Then, he noticed some movement in the corner of his eye. Lissa, lying on her side, woke up and was rubbing the bottom of her eyelid.

"Uhh, Chrom?" she said blearily, still half-asleep.

"Something's wrong with Fairen!" Chrom said before disappearing into the brush, following right behind Fairen.

Fairen led the trail as he entered deep into the woods, shining eyes highlighting the fauna around him as he passed by obstacles with ease. Chrom fought to keep up in the pitch black, raising a hand over his head to try to block branches from poking at his face, attempting to stay right behind Fairen and keep up with his movements, huffing as he struggled to match Fairen's raw, unnatural speed. The sounds of heavy, pushing footsteps and rustling foliage filled Chrom's ears as his heartbeat started to pound against the sides of his head.

Chrom found himself emerging from thick foliage to arrive at a clearing overlooking the rest of the forest from a fifty-foot high cliff. Fairen had stopped right near the edge, feet spread apart, balance square. Chrom leaned to his right, squinting, trying to see if Fairen's eyes were still glowing. A cold chill suddenly ran down Chrom's spine, and something buzzed along the side of his skull. He got the distinct feeling something was wrong. Then, he realized that the world was deathly quiet: the comforting and light southern wind disappeared, the trees stood like statues, and no wildlife dared to reveal themselves, even behind the safety of tall grass and bushes.

Air got caught halfway through Chrom's next breath as he looked up. The sky was starless.

Just then, the ground began to violently rumble, forcing Chrom to bend and brace himself.

"Gods, what-" Chrom began, wincing, before he took a look at Fairen.

Fairen was flailing next to the cliff's edge, trying to regain balance as he teetered next to a wide-open death-drop. After a few nail-biting seconds, Chrom saw Fairen drop backwards, leaving him sitting as he posted himself on two hands.

Chrom felt the ground shift beneath him as the quake continued, forcing himself even lower on the ground to stay his stance. He felt the earth beneath his feet loosen.

"Fairen!" He shouted at Fairen. "We have to go! Now!"

After a brief moment, Fairen seemed to respond, getting up off his rear and tumbling into a spring towards Chrom. Chrom noted that Fairen no longer had glowing eyes or a shining pendant, and instead had a panicked and deeply confused expression. As Fairen approached, Chrom reversed and went back into the woods, leading the way, hoping Fairen would follow. A heartbeat after the two vacated, the ledge crumbled and fell down to the ground below.

Land uneven beneath his boots, Chrom struggled to stay on his feet as he bypassed elm and bush alike. The sheer darkness of the night made it difficult to navigate until the horizon on the corner of Chrom's vision lit with fire. In the distance, fissures half a mile long formed between cracked dirt and spilled boiling magma that shot up to the open air by tens of meters, the cascading lava sending the scene orange light with its pure heat. Multiple balls of flame flew out with the lava from the top, showering down and scattering throughout every inch of the woods.

Maples and willows burst into flame from lava and fireballs alike, lending the once dark woods illumination and deadly warmth. Chrom watched as trees off in the distance caught heat, then was sent to the side as a flaming boulder rammed into an tree meters away from him, creating a small explosion. Chrom stumbled, tiny smouldering embers pelting his back and cape, but he managed to stay on his feet with a grunt. He heard Fairen squeal in terror behind him, a relieving indicator that his fellow Shepherd was at least still following suit.

Chrom took a step over a small gap leading into a dried-out stream, which violently began to rise without warning. Fairen's stepping leg buckled at the sudden pressure, and he fell on his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Fairen gasped as he strained to get up on his feet from the upward pressure of the land rising. His vision was slowly filled with the upper bodies of trees, then the tips of their peaks, and finally the open air. Frantic, Fairen forced his muscles to move as he managed to get a foothold and run the last few meters to leap over the cliff. He found himself soaring through the air and heading straight for the ground through the trees. Making his way past the leaves, he away from the tree trunks and pulled himself into a rough roll upon landing. Then, he tumbled twice and a half before he forced himself to complete the third with a push of momentum, his teeth rattling from pain within his ankles. Then, he forced himself to press on, pursuing Chrom. A geyser of liquid flame burst from the fissure in the ground behind him moments after he got moving.

Chrom looked around wildly as he fled, searching for his sister and Frederick, not exactly sure where they were during the turnaround he had from the chaos. He reached another patch where no trees nor bush stood, the ground beneath him muddy, dried grass and cattail stalks lining what looked to be an old, currently useless, pond. Chrom drove himself to a halt and turned around, trying to catch his breath. Behind him, up the hill, he witnessed the carnage that the rivers of flame and destruction were causing. The whole forest was on fire.

Fairen finally caught up to Chrom with a huff, having to lean on his knees and catch his breath once there. After a few seconds, Fairen lifted his head to see what Chrom was so intensely staring at. His eyes widened.

"Holy smokes," Fairen said slowly, his words sounding normal. Chrom looked at Fairen, his mind racing. Just then, Fairen froze and his eyes turned red along with his necklace, shocking Chrom. Chrom leaned forward to grab Fairen's shoulder before he could run off again, when a loud hum pierced the bombardment of sounds in the air.

There was a sharp pulse of a high note, like a bell hit with a hammer of light, and the sky was cut in twain. The resulting hole had mysterious, unreadable letters surrounding it in a rotating ring, and the gap in space was outlined in strange cyan crystals, giving the hole the appearance of an otherworldly eye with a glowing blue pool for the iris and pupils.

"I... I must... The portal..." Fairen said, slowly approaching the eye. His voice gave an odd quality again, as if he was speaking through three different stone tunnels that were all of different lengths and sizes. Chrom began to jog up to him when a burst of air was let out around Fairen, whipping around his hair and the bottoms of his overcoat.

He closed his eyes, light still shining from where it could beneath his eyelids. A circle of scarlet runes drew itself beneath Fairen's figure, wrapping around in a two-foot radius. Then, a second one appeared, twisting around the first in a slightly curved formation. Then a third. Fairen was lifted up in the air impossibly, the gale around him gathering strength. Chrom threw up a hand and winced, trying to watch what Fairen was doing.

Fairen's legs stuck out behind him along with his head, and his neck craned back while his spine arched almost unnaturally. He thrust his chest out and his hands to the side gathering what looked to be a red, magical energy. His lengthy, brown hair danced in a crazed loop as he rose higher above the mud of the pond.

Chrom's attention was suddenly brought to the eye in the sky. Grey, human-like creatures began to ooze from the surface of the eye, moaning as they were ejected in an erect posture before curving to the planet's gravity and falling to the ground, landing with a thump. Only a few moments passed and the figures rose up to their feet in a lumbering fashion, A shot of fright chilled Chrom's back from the top down, fright that pumped new adrenaline into his system as he observed the figures standing below the sky's eye.

They wore old remnants of armour, with key pieces missing, displaying grey, rotting flesh to those who bear witness. The colour of their garb that signified their army and nation was stained an old copper red, as if it were painted in dry blood. Their mouths hung open and half empty, teeth missing, and rattled moans made it out of their lips as their glowing red eyes seemed to lock onto Chrom and Fairen. They wavered as they stood, as if they didn't have a sense of balance, and every one had a weapon drawn with its end dragged back and forth in the dirt.

Four, five, six, seven, and many more, fell out of the eye and into the burning forest. Chrom noted that most fell off in the distance, meaning that the eye was much, much larger than he thought it actually was. The shambling figures of the warriors nearby abruptly ran and the two Shepherds, arms behind them with their rusting weapons in hand. Chrom grasped the handle of his longsword and drew it from its sheath, alarmed at the speed in which the creatures could display despite their apparent lack of dexterity.

Fairen floated on the spot, a dotting light appearing on the edges of his palms and growing in size.

"Fairen!" Chrom called as the creatures charged at Fairen, raising their swords and lances as they got closer. "Fairen, you've got to move!"

Fairen made no response. The enemy approached, and Fairen brought his hands to his chest and bent over, his feet over each other, toes out, and the magic he held combined into one large orb.

Chrom was almost deafened by the sounds of his heart beating against his temples, his senses alight. Making an executive decision, Chrom lowered his sword, ran at Fairen from an angle and dived at his flank, slamming him and bringing him to the ground, breaking the runes beneath his form and cutting the wind diving around the rim of the dried pond.

The duo laid on their sides, Fairen coughing up the dirt that was kicked up from their landing. The red in his eyes flickered as the light from his pendant died. Chrom, still sensing danger, immediately got to his feet and dashed forward to engage with the enemy. Fairen blinked a few times, then winced, sucking in a breath through clenched teeth as he held his head with the one hand that wasn't posted and lifting him off the ground.

A grey soldier wielding an axe sprinted at Chrom with wild abandon. Chrom met it halfway and struck true, sliding to a stop on two posted feet, legs bent and arms outstretched, his blade pointing out and to the side. There was a beat, and Chrom gasped after not hearing the distinct fall of his opponent at death's door. The creature turned its own head around, several vertebrae cracking as its neck unnaturally rotated further than it should possibly have. Chrom barely had half a second to bring his sword around to his back and block a strike meant for the soft flesh between his hip and ribs, the axe's blade inches away from his torso.

His arm muscles in overdrive, Chrom fought for position beneath the grey warrior's strange strength. Chrom's whole figure shook under the weight and pressure of his opponent, unable to shift his feet away from his awkward stance lest he lose what little advantage he had on his push.

With a great deal of effort, Chrom swung his sword arm around and flicked his wrist, deflecting the neck of the axe away from him. He followed up with an elbow to the creature's sternum, sending it tumbling back before it lost its footing and fell to the ground stomach down, dropping its weapon in the process.

Chrom took advantage of the opening and leapt into the air in a dive aiming for his opponent's back. Flipping his sword to face down, he landed on top of the creature and drove his blade straight into the middle of where its spine would be. Just then, his blade lit up with a slight shine that traveled into the wound of the humanoid. Chrom's eyebrows shot up, and the creature arched its neck up and shook in pain before it flopped to the ground, moving no more.

Chrom kneeled in place, trying to regain stamina. He had sweat running down his forehead and cheeks, drops partially fueled by the forest fire heating the wind.

"Get off me!" Fairen cried, and Chrom's attention was brought to the other party member in the vicinity. Fairen shoved a grey swordsman away from him, putting up his fists with a scowl after. He had to duck under his attacker's horizontal swing, then side jump its vertical, throwing one punch to the stomach that forced the creature to bend then another to the head, the force of the impact creating a shattering crack and sending the creature's head back a bit.

Fairen waited a moment, then watched in shock as the creature's head returned to a normal position. The creature lifted its sword once more, only for Chrom to drive his sword through its back from behind, causing it to fall dead after another lightshow from the length of Chrom's blade.

"What in the infinite realms is going on?" Fairen shouted, standing side-by-side with Chrom, fists raised as Chrom took his own battle stance, the two facing the oncoming hoard of enemies.

"You tell me!" Chrom responded, sweat rolling down his neck as he fixed his wielding grasp on his sword's handle. "You're the one who started to glow and went running off into the night without warning!"

"I did what!?" Fairen said, exasperated, until suddenly he gasped and had to duck under the jab of a lance. Fairen grabbed the lance's length and pulled forward, bringing the grey warrior closer as Fairen delivered a haymaker to its nose. Chrom followed up with a swift strike that beheaded the creature, leaving it to crumple helplessly on the ground, dark red blood pooling from the stump on its neck.

Fairen huffed and put up his dukes again. "We gotta find the others!" He punched and kicked away an assaulting humanoid. "Do you have any idea where they are?"

"No clue!" Chrom responded, promptly dueling with an opponent and then disengaging just as quickly.

"Shit," Fairen spat, before he took the blunt end of an axe to the face. Quickly recovering, he bore clenched teeth, and with an angry growl, let loose a fierce punch to the chest of the one attacking him, denting its armour and sending it back towards three more creatures, leaving it on the ground with a dent in its chestplate. Slowly, it got back up, no worse for wear, and restarted its approach. A chain of red static jumped up and down Fairen's body. Fairen blew out hot air with pursed lips as he waved his open punching hand in the air, fingers out, hopping in place from foot to foot.

Chrom and Fairen backed up, heels almost touching, until they were stopped by a large tree behind them. Five different grey creatures enclosed their position in a semi-circle.

"There's too many of them!" Fairen shouted. Chrom shifted his grip closer to the pommel of his sword, silently agreeing. His mind raced, trying to think of a way out.

Then, something caught Chrom's vision. He tilted his head upward, a shimmer coming from the sky's eye. The shadow of another human figure could be seen beyond the light blue barrier that made up the hole. As the figure grew in size, Chrom could make out that it was different than the other creatures, but struggled to take in exact details. As it emerged into the real world, the only things he could tell were of the blue half-mask it wore, the longsword on its hip, and how it seemed to desperately reach out for its escape for one reason or another.

The newcomer met open air, red cape fluttering, and drew its sword and landed without a hint of trouble or pain. They cut down on one of the creatures that surrounded Fairen and Chrom, slicing its back in half almost all the way through. Then, they struck sideways, catching the next creature in the hip, and forcing it to turn its attention away from Chrom and Fairen. Chrom noticed the new opening caused by the seemingly allied individual, and charged in himself, sword held high, taking the next two creatures on the left and leaving Fairen with just the last one.

Fairen, suddenly finding the fight to weight more to their favour, rushed low against his opponent, who held an aged axe in a two-handed grip across its chest. Before it could even rear the axe head up, Fairen grabbed the axe's handle, held on tight, and booted the creature in the stomach. The creature was only pushed back, holding firm to its weapon, so Fairen threw another kick with the same foot, extending his leg out completely, balancing on one heel, his head low to the ground until he could stand up properly.

"This is mine, now!" Fairen said, wielding the axe with a feral grin. His victim trudged forward and reached out with both hands in an attempt to re-attain its weapon, only for Fairen to jump back and smash the blade into the creature's collarbone, barely cutting through. The creature reached up to grab the handle while the blade was still embedded in its flesh, only for Fairen to lift it back up and strike again at the same spot. Fairen attacked over and over again, pushing the creature back until it landed on the ground, and still Fairen kept up the offensive, digging into its putrid skin with each strike, sending fermented blood everywhere, including across Fairen's outfit, face, and hands. He just kept smashing until the creature stopped moving.

Fairen was heaving by the end of it, bending over with his hands on his knees. He wiped his lips with a clean part of his wrist and examined the axe he was holding, flipping it towards him.

_This weapon's shit,_ Fairen mused, breathing hard. His thumb idly went over the curved edge of the axe's head. _The blade's so dull it might as well be a blunt weapon._

With that, he threw the weapon to the side in a hint of revulsion and craned his head up just to spot Chrom finishing off his second enemy with a quick swipe across his opponent's stomach.

Chrom turned toward him after noticing that there were no more threats in the vicinity. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah," Fairen said, wiping some sweat off his head as he stood back up. "Tough bastards to kill, aren't they?"

Fairen's attention was brought to his left, where he found the swordsman who fell from the sky standing still, their two enemies dead behind them, sword in sheathe. They stared at Fairen, pointed mask covering their eyes while leaving the bottom half of the face to reveal a thin nose and pursed lips. Their hair was as blue as the deep ocean, medium length with a tuff hanging over the middle of their forehead and a golden tiara sitting on top. They wore an odd-looking knight's coat, coloured with the same palette as their hair, belt around their waist carrying their sword, a red cloak without arms attached to the collar of the coat with a red pin in the shape of a shield. Thin pants gave way to elongated, navy blue boots that almost reached up to their knees. All in all, Fairen noted them to be a skinny individual, and one that seemed to gawk at him with confused interest, any other emotions invisible behind the mask that concealed them.

"Chrom! Fairen!"

Chrom and Fairen looked behind them, spotting Frederick and Lissa approaching them quickly on Daisy's back, with two newcomers right behind them. Fairen examined the red-armoured cavalier on the second horse, her hair short and a light tone of burgundy. She appeared to be disgruntled, but focused, as the man placed behind her dropped off from the steed, shaking the saddle slightly. He had the appearance of an upper noble, with a clean but loose long-sleeve shirt worn beneath an armoured teal vest, hair parted in two neatly at the top of his head, high brown archer boots matching the quiver hanging behind him.

"Milord, are you hurt?" Frederick asked with concern, approaching Chrom.

"I'm fine, Frederick," Chrom responded. "And I apologize for seemingly running off on my own, but Fairen here was under some kind of spell and went sprinting off into the night while the rest of us were asleep."

Fairen tsked to the side, scowling. "I don't really know what happened. I swore I fell asleep, and next thing I know I'm standing at a cliff with the ground shaking and Chrom screaming for me to get back."

Frederick boldly approached Fairen, Lissa behind him looking on with worry. "Such wanton claims for someone who got themselves into so much trouble. Tell me, Fairen, are you this reckless with your usual comrades back from where you're from?"

"Aw, quit it with the suspicion, already," Fairen complained. "This isn't the time to be arguing about party politics. The whole damn forest's on fire!"

Frederick harrumphed, which his steed seemed to mirror. "Well, I'm certainly glad that milord is at least unharmed."

"Right," Chrom said. "We would have been toast if it wasn't for the fellow warrior here—"

Chrom twisted around to gesture to where the blue swordsman was, only to find himself pointing at a tree."

"Huh? Where did he go?" Chrom said.

"Gone," was all Fairen could answer, looking at the same empty spot Chrom was looking at.

The red cavalier next stepped up. "Captain Chrom, I'm reporting for duty, and glad to see you safe."

Chrom gave a smile and put his hands on his hips. "Sully. Good to see you, despite our circumstances. How did you get here?"

"I was camped south of Ylisstol in a patrol when all hell broke loose. I ran down the road to Southtown as fast as I could."

"And might I make myself present to this pleasing company?" the noble archer said behind Sully, to which everyone turned their attention to.

Sully groaned and rolled her eyes. "And this is Ruffles. I met him along the way here, except he wouldn't let me go without him. So, it was either let him burn in the forest fire, or keep him along."

"Ah, err," Ruffles stuttered, fiddling with his next response. "The fine lady grants me a title as such, but I am much better identified as Virion. And I assure you, the events described weren't as nearly as, ah, virtue-less as it may seem." Virion gave a flourished bow. "Regardless, my bow is at your service."

Chrom didn't seem to know what to think. "Well, good to have you here, Virion. The more we have, the better our odds."

Fairen shook his head with a laugh, frustrated. "Back up is good and all, but I think we might need a little more than a squad of half a dozen to handle this. How many undead fell out of the sky? Twenty? Thirty?"

"It seems to have stopped for now," Frederick said, craning his head up towards the sky. "We should seek to put these 'undead', as you say, to the blade."

Fairen gawked at Frederick, arms hanging down loose. "Are you kidding me, Fred?" he said, incredulous. "We should be looking to get the fuck out of here and get more help! Not run in and engage the enemy!"

"There are two matters I'd like to address about your statement," Frederick started. "First, is that to never, ever call me 'Fred'. The second, is my concern about the possibility of these risen soldiers to make their way to points of civilization."

"Southtown is only a couple kilometers down the road," Lissa pointed out, worry in her tone. Fairen nervously bit his bottom lip.

Chrom nodded, sheathing is sword. "Right. We should mop up the problem before it gets worse. If things get overwhelming, we can retreat to Ylisstol and send the rest of the Shepherds in."

"Good thinkin'," Sully said, smirking. Fairen opened his mouth to say something, but shut it silently.

"Milord, I suggest we start by heading northeast. There is an abandoned fort not too far away that would be beneficial to secure before truly engaging with large masses of 'risen'." Frederick said.

"Let's get going then," Chrom finalized.

The group of six turned their heads to where Frederick was indicating. As they made their way out of the dried pond, Fairen jogged up to Frederick's side.

"Hey, so, uh." Fairen started, poking his index fingers together. "I'm sorry about the whole 'Fred' thing. But, did you happen to grab my battleaxe before you left the—"

Fairen was cut short as he caught the handle of his battleaxe with two hands, stumbling back after Frederick quickly reached to the side of Daisy, pulled out the battleaxe, and tossed it to Fairen."

"Ah," Fairen said, staring at the axe, then at Frederick. "Thanks."

Frederick only gave him a low-brow stare over his shoulder before urging his steed forward with a tap of his heels on the horse's torso. Lissa gave a silent "Sorry!" with her eyes from behind Frederick's back.

_Wonder if I'll ever get a break from the guy_, Fairen thought to himself in a huff, wearing a fake smile.

As the others faded into the trees, Fairen paused and peered over his shoulder, first to look at the bodies of the rotting and unmoving undead that they were leaving behind, then to capture the spot where he last saw the masked swordsman staring at him. Lastly, he peered up at the sky for a couple of seconds.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Fairen muttered to himself. With furrowed eyebrows and a slouch, he finally left to follow the others beyond the tree line.

Up above, the sky's eye witnessed all.

* * *

The party made their way through the forest, trail-less, passing around trees and through bushes that stood untouched by wildfire. Trees still burned in the distance, the party staying away from any hot patches filled with flaming oak and spruce. The night summer wind had returned, tickling the branches of all the fauna and kicking up dust and dry dirt from the ground in clearings that the group came across. Fairen would wince and put up his arm in front of his face whenever he was assaulted by a cloud of dust, not enjoying himself. On occasion, an undead soldier would pop up from the darkness and Chrom and the others would quickly dispose of them with ease due to numbers advantage. Fairen was relieved that they hadn't come across a squad of undead yet, and held his axe in fear for the moment when they would.

Chrom sheathed his blade in a smooth, efficient motion after having slain the third soldier they had come across. As they all continued down the path Frederick indicated, Chrom made his way beside Fairen and turned to him.

"So, have you had any experience with these risen warriors, Fairen?" Chrom asked casually.

"Yeah, a bit," said Fairen. He put one hand on his chin, rubbing it. "Undead, Risen, whatever you call them, they're a nuisance. Really hard to kill, as you've seen. But usually, you'd find them in a crypt or graveyard, not falling from the sky from a magical hole."

"Do you have any idea how to stop them?"

The other Shepherds leaned in to the conversation with interest.

"Normally, you'd have to disable or kill the person or thing that's summoning all the undead," Fairen explained, "which is normally a lich or necromancer of some sort. In that case, I'm glad that the undead are falling from the sky, because, ugh." Fairen shuddered. "We do not want to mess with a lich."

"Why not?" Lissa asked, still perched up on Daisy with Frederick.

"Those things are crazy strong. Never heard of them, eh?" He gestured to Chrom, who shook his head, then to Sully and Virion, who gave him confused looks. "They're basically master-level necromancers that put their soul back in their body once they've died. They defy death, and after their body rots and ages, but never goes kaput. They've got massive magical power, and are extremely hard to kill."

"But you're saying that a lich probably didn't make the hole in the sky," Chrom clarified.

"I don't think so," Fairen said. "I've never heard of a lich who specialized in portal magic. Summoning magic, yes, but usually those summons come from beneath the ground, not up in the air."

"Hmm," Chrom said, deep in thought. "Maybe we should seek out a leader anyway. See if they have one."

"It's worth a try," Fairen said, crossing his arms and nodding.

As the group approached another clearing, Lissa gasped and leaned forward, pointing over Frederick's shoulders. "Look!"

Everyone halted and stared in shock at Lissa's observation. Across a field and up a hill was the fort Frederick had been speaking of, cobblestone walls standing tall from four sturdy towers, a wooden drawbridge visible over an empty moat. However, a large amount of sizzling lava poured over the western wall, flowing over it and into the fort compound from a tiny volcano that had erupted from the ground next to the fort. A clear and steady fire, almost as large as the fort itself, was alive inside the premise of the fort, the top of the flames licking up at the black skyline of the night.

"No!" Fairen shouted, falling to his knees.

"There goes that plan," Chrom said to no one in particular, eyebrows furrowed.

"Thought you didn't want to go to the fort," Sully said, looking over Fairen's decidedly devastated stance from her mount. "Why are you upset?"

Fairen turned to face her and shot an angry look. "Just because I'm against an idea doesn't mean I don't want it to succeed!"

"Well, now what?" Lissa said.

"Are there any other forts in this forest that we could secure, Frederick?" Chrom asked.

"Unfortunately not, as far as I can recall, milord,"

"Damn," Chrom swore. "Well, if we can't find a place of respite, we can still bring the fight to the Risen."

"Damn straight," Sully said with a grin.

"I almost could not say it better myself," Virion added, standing beside Sully.

Several low moans broke the group out of their brainstorming. Chrom, Fairen, and the others, all turned to the tree line at the western end of the field. Approaching from the shadows under the leaves were several Risen, all shambling towards them with various axes, swords, and lances, all armoured, and all staring straight at the Shepherds with their glowing crimson eyes.

"Looks like they brought the fight to us," Fairen said, watching even more grey soldiers emerge from the foliage.

"Look alive, everyone!" Chrom said, drawing his sword with everyone else doing the same for their weapons. "Charge!"

Fairen suddenly grinned, and gripping his battleaxe tight, he sprung forth from his kneeling position on the ground, gaining speed and managing to run along Chrom as the six of them leapt into battle.

* * *

As the group progressed further into the forest, having forgotten their 'secure fort' plan, Fairen found members of their foe to fall quickly. With the combined effort of Chrom, Frederick, Lissa, Sully, Virion, and himself, along with their combat and weapon skills, the Risen were efficiently and systematically taken out. There was strength in numbers, Fairen thought, much more strength than he initially figured when the group first took down the large hoard near the burning fort.

Furthermore, as the team fought more and more Risen, they understood more how the Risen worked, and how to take them down. Chrom had gone far beyond the initial run-in where he struggled to matched the strength of just one axe-wielding Risen. Now, he did not underestimate them and their seemingly slow, sluggish, and off-kilter movements. He and Fairen had equal amounts of advice to give to the others early on, empowering the group's tactics when dealing with the grey soldiers.

"Aim for their heads, and cut at their necks!" Fairen suggested in one fight while he himself was engaged with the enemy. "And if not, strike at their spines! Otherwise, you'll have to gut them like a fish!"

The minutes of the night slowly wore into an hour, then into a few hours, the rage of the forest fire still shouldering in the distance of the night. The skyline was practically alight with pyrotechnics, a mass of low oranges and bright reds licking up at the sky's eye from the peaks of the trees they fed off of. Smoke rolled away in waves at the guidance of the soft breeze rolling in in intervals, noxious gasses floating harmlessly up into the atmosphere and dispersing. Lasting embers would crunch under the Shepherds' feet as they continued straight west, hoping to find more Risen to hunt to the eventual conclusion where there would be none left to threaten the countryside.

At some point before twilight, Chrom's attention was caught by something along the foliage in the distance. He rose his head to the sounds of grunts and clashing metal. After urging everyone in the direction of the ambiance, he spotted two figures dancing in combat under the firelight between oaks. On one side was the masked swordsman from before, face set in a gritted expression of intense focus as she dueled with her opponent, who was a very broad and tall Risen, one of immense size and strength for a humanoid creature, with biceps, triceps, and pectorals all buldging out of the thin, purple skin that kept the rest of its blood and msucles in. It too held a sword in hand, except it was a broadsword worthy of its hosts' size, with steel that seemed to shine in the darkness even despite its age and rust. The Risen had flowing, thin strands of hair that seemed permanently blood-soaked and wore a tattered mask that fit to its face where its beady eyes looked from, red glow and all. The most terrifying thing of all, however, was the fact that the Risen was holding and swinging the two-handed weapon as if it was one-handed, and made it look easy.

The masked swordsman and the giant Risen were fighting in a grand show of choreography, the swordsman's feet hopping back and forth as the flow of battle commanded it, light in touch on the ground while the Risen's bootless feet stomped with abandon, almost shaking the ground itself with each giant step. Steel clashed between swords and sparks rang out like little lanterns in the otherwise relatively lightless area. The masked swordsman clearly and obviously had a strength disadvantage, but worked well defending themselves by deflecting the Risen's blows off to the side with their own sword, along with dodging swipes and a boatload of trained and perfected footwork. It was the classic matchup of strength versus dexterity, one which Chrom did not know the outcome of. Fairen, running behind Chrom, noted the beads of sweat forming on the swordsman's chin and neck.

Further beyond the Shepherds and the dualists, in the trees, more Risen appeared, some with axes and lances, and even some with bows. The undead archers, wielding rotting bows with strings stained yellow with time, drew nasty, gnarled arrows from quivers they wore and took aim at the masked swordsman fighting below.

"Come on! We have to help him!" Chrom called out to the others, drawing his weapon, and with a wave, he rushed forward to engage the threat of risen on the mysterious warrior who helped them earlier. Virion had already knocked an arrow on his bow and let loose at one of the archers aiming at the masked swordsman, his aim true, hitting his target in the chest where its leather armour had withered away and left an exposed right breast.

Lissa, having been dismounted for a while now, jogged as best as she could forward, but the others left her behind with ease. She almost ran into Fairen, who refused to budge, staying as still as a statue with bent legs and a battle stance. He looked back at her over his shoulder with a smirk.

"I hate leaving you behind we engage," he told her, battleaxe clutched hard in his fingers. "I feel like something's going to strike at you and we won't be in a position to do anything about it."

Lissa just stared at him with a surprised expression. The blue crystal orb connected to the top of her staff was cracked after having healed many of the Shepherds throughout the night. Just then, an undead solider holding a hand axe leapt out of the brush, soaring through the air at a high speed, both arms up and ready to strike as it let out a moaning battle cry.

Lissa jumped back with a scream as Fairen lunched forward to meet with the threat head on. "I knew it!" Fairen said as he blocked the Risen's strike with the neck of his battleaxe. The Risen was pushed back and forced to the ground, and after a beat, pushed off its square stance and struck again. Fairen repelled the attack, and rammed the Risen with the length of his weapon, shoving it back in a stumble. He tried to take advantage of the opening with a revolving swipe to the head, but missed as the Risen ducked under. Fairen was left with the head of his axe against the ground and his back turned from his opponent. The Risen rose its arm to strike, but Fairen quickly moved his attention behind and struck at his opponent's weapon arm with his heel in an amazing high kick.

The Risen flinched back once more, having their weapon pushed back by the force of the kick and gravity. Making sure Lissa wasn't in the way, Fairen used his whole body to lift the axe head and continued circling clockwise, bringing him to face the Risen one more and driving the sharpened metal edge into the Risen's torso. The Risen paused at the strike, brown blood leaking onto the weapon's head. Before a counter could be deployed by his opponent, Fairen reared up and booted the Risen in the stomach, pushing it off the axe and leaving it to flop helplessly on the ground. With some gathered momentum, Fairen reared the bladed end of the axe behind him, leapt high up, and brought the axe down over him.

He was aiming for the neck, but instead got the head, cleaving the skull in two and ending the Risen's unlife.

With one last huff, Fairen turned away from the scene and faced Lissa, who was behind him a safe distance away holding her staff with two hands and looking at the dead Risen on the ground. Her eyes flicked to his and she gave a friendly and thankful smile that Fairen returned with a nod. Fairen brought his attention around to where Chrom and the others had engaged the giant Risen. He spotted Chrom civilly speaking to the swordsman with both of their weapons away, with Frederick, Sully, Virion slowly approach them, no Risen in sight.

Lissa's smile widened at the scene, and she began to approach her brother before she saw a shimmer from the corner of her eye. She looked and for a moment saw Fairen's luminous, scarlet eyes and pendant before he threw his weapon to the side and sprinted south into the forest at full tilt.

"C-Chrom!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, waving to grab his attention. Everyone turned towards her with concerned looks. She pointed to where Fairen was fleeing, his figure barely visible as his dirtied cargo pants and large, blocky boots disappeared from view behind a bush.

"Gods, not again," Chrom said with a sigh before accelerating to a run, following where Fairen went, with Frederick and Sully doing the same behind him.

The chase was on once more, with Chrom swiftly moving into the wave of trees exiting the field. He began to move more efficiently in the woods after having spent the whole night navigating between bark-laden trunks and brushes of wild plant leaves. He couldn't see exactly where Fairen was, but he could hear his heavy footsteps kick against the ground ahead. Frederick and Sully slowly approached Chrom from behind, both riding low and avoiding the branches hanging down from above, and eventually reached and outran Chrom in pure speed. The horses had some trouble safely moving around the trees at high velocity, but they still overtook Chrom with their strides and long legs.

"Don't let him get away!" Chrom called after Frederick and Sully, to which Frederick briefly looked behind and nodded to. Frederick and Sully soon ran out of sight, and the sounds of hoofs hitting the ground mixed in with the sounds of the surroundings, and Chrom wasn't sure where Fairen was anymore.

Eventually, with enough tenacity, Chrom burst through a thick blockade of plant life to a burnt ruin of dead trees, all from the aftermath of the fire after it had burned down a section of the forest and moved on once its fuel was turned to ash. Down bodies of elms, oaks, and spruces lay everywhere, burned black and ravaged. The ground was made of grey soot and lingering embers, charcoals scattered around the zone emitting light from heat. The air was hot, hotter than the normal summer nighttime would allow, and the ashes soot had an almost sand-like consistency beneath Chrom's feet. It was more slippery than dirt would allow.

"Milord," Frederick called from afar, standing beside Sully's mount, both steeds facing towards Fairen who stood even farther beyond them. Chrom rushed to their sides, sliding to a stop once he reached them, and stared at Fairen.

He was once again floating in the air with several circles and undecipherablerunes outlined in the ashes beneath his feet. His legs were crossed at his ankles, and his hands were out at his sides, elbows bent. He could not see Fairen's face, but Chrom figured that Fairen still had the odd, glowing pendant and eyes.

"That pendant of his looks to be magical," Chrom said to the party he had at hand. "If we can remove it, maybe he'll turn back to normal."

Frederick started forward with a hardened expression. Chrom put out his hand to stop Daisy for a moment. "Let's do this softly. We don't want to hurt or alarm him."

"I'll defer to your guidance, milord," Frederick said.

"Yeah, lead the way, Chrom," Sully agreed.

After taking a brief glance at his partners behind him, Chrom steadily approached Fairen, getting low, with one arm out in caution towards Fairen's figure.

"Fairen?" Chrom said calmly. "Is everything alright?"

"The... portal... I must... close... the portal..." Fairen muttered. His voice had the strange, multi-layer quality to it again, and he had started to gather ruby energy in his outstretched hands.

"What?" Chrom rose an eyebrow and stood up straight.

"Chrom! Up in the sky!" Sully said. Chrom heard her draw her weapon behind him.

Several undead were falling like tears from the sky's eye, grouping en mass and falling out of the hole in quick succession. They all fell onto the burnt battlefield just ahead of Fairen, and were normal-sized, but all still bore drawn weapons, none the less. Chrom counted, seven, eight, nine, ten, twelve, thirteen. _How many more are there? _Chrom thought to himself.

"Hey!" Chrom heard a voice call from behind. He turned his attention toward the back tree line and spotted Lissa and Virion catch up to them.

Lissa was completely winded by the time she reached Frederick. Virion looked up to the newly spawned Risen force in complete shock.

"My word!" Virion said. "Perhaps this is too much, even for us!"

_Yeah, there's more than the force that we fought at the fort,_ Chrom said to himself glumly, gritting his teeth. The undead began to get up off the ground and move towards the Shepherds in a jog.

"What are we going to do?" Lissa cried, eyes wide and fearful at the oncoming onslaught of foes.

"Get on, milady," Frederick said, reaching his hand out to Lissa. Lissa quickly grabbed on and got on the spot behind Frederick.

"Milord," Frederick began, facing Chrom. "You must make a choice. Fight, or Flee?"

Chrom anxiously looked on at Fairen and the wave of undead approaching them. He still had no idea what was wrong with Fairen.

Just then, Fairen's eyes flashed. His stance changed; he shifted sideways and brought his hands to his ribs. With a frown, he threw his hands out, fingers spread, and lances of blue and white chain lightning jumped from his fingertips. The electricity poured out and rammed into three of the advancing grey soldiers, striking them with such ferocity that two burnt to a crisp and the third collapsed to the ground, mortally wounded.

"Well, that makes things a bit easier," Chrom said, drawing his weapon. Then, he tilted his head towards his comrades without taking his eyes of the Risen swarm. "Shepherds! Let us meet the enemy head on! Keep the undead away from Fairen until we figure out what to do with him!"

"Oo-rah!" Sully cried out, accelerating forward with an iron sword high into the air as she charged into battle, the others quickly following suit.

Once engaged, the Shepherds took one-on-one spats where they could, kiting where they could not finish off their opponent in time to catch another. Frederick at some point had three on him at once, and he gracefully led the herd in a circle, then proceeded to skillfully behead each and every one with his powerful, shining silver lance. Virion stood far in the back, pelting the enemy with arrows as fast and as accuratly as he could. Chrom opted to stand in front of Fairen and block any undead that came straight at him. Because of this, he would take damage from erring on the side of blocking his foes' progression instead of properly defending himself, but Lissa would occasionally come along on Frederick's back, quickly heal any minor wounds, and jump back on Daisy. Fairen kept casting his stellar lightning, red static jumping up and down his arms with each attack, smoke emitting from his figure as he panted and sweat with effort. The spells were a god send for the group, and without it, Chrom thought that repelling the enemy would have been impossible.

At some point, the wave of undead got extra thick, and Chrom was beginning to have a hard time keeping the opposing force back. Suddenly, there were three of them all at once, and Chrom couldn't deal with all of them efficiently without getting nicks and cuts on his arms. But, just as he found himself in trouble, he found his stress somewhat lifted when someone came and dexterously beheaded one of the grey soldiers. Chrom saw the masked swordsman enter the fray, and he could not help but shout in newfound energy as hope and a second wind passed through him.

At some point, Fairen stopped firing lightning bolts. Coincidentally, it was when the hoard thinned a significant amount. Risen was still falling from the sky, but only in sparse, languid drops of acid rain. For a moment, in his battle stance, Chrom shifted his eyes to peer behind him, and saw Fairen was once again charging red energy between his palms, his attention towards the eye in the sky.

An earth-shattering roar pierced the heavens, causing everyone except Fairen to flinch and cover their ears. All fighting ceased, including the few undead left, if for the only reason that the sheer shockwaves of the cry paralyzed their limbs. It seemed as if the air itself shook in fear at the low, deep wail. The tone was akin to a thousand men and women dying all at once under the crushing blow of some towering creature. Crouching and protecting his hearing, Chrom found the courage deep within himself to look back up at the sky, eyes wide. He could not keep his hands from shaking.

Deep within the sky's eye was a monstrous creature, one only foretold in nightmarish legends of deep yore. The perspective seemed almost wrong due to the angle of the sky's eye, but the creature was as large as a mountain with the presence thrice that, its body covering all angles of the eye's circle. Six massive black wings flapped separate of each other, all seeming to beat with such power to create tornados. Two jutting horns stuck out straight from the beast's cranium, sticking straight out and in front of its maw, ready to gore any opponent, mortal or god, it came across. The edges of its lips had rows upon rows of stained, golden teeth poking out, all as sharp as the finest blade, except worn by a demon. Six piercing eyes glowed through the hole in the sky, seeing all. Chrom had the terrible feeling that it was looking straight at him.

"Gods, no," the masked swordsman said, breathless, their weapon clattering on the ground, legs giving out as they slumped over, stuck staring helplessly upward.

Fairen, unflinching, gave a defiant shout and threw his hands forward, wrists together, palms out, and an enlarged orb of scarlet magic scorched through the open air up into the sky. The Shepherds stared as the ball flew higher, higher, and higher, until it rapidly approached the center of the sky's eye and made contact.

A string of red lightning attached between the eye and Fairen. The wind picked up around Fairen's figure fourfold, and Fairen was pushed back by an invisible force as he grit his teeth and struggled to contain the power he was fighting against. He remained floating in the air, but was lower, and leaned against the electricity that struck him. The lance of pure energy flicked back and forth in an intimate dance, a low hum in the air along with crackles that filled everyone's hearing. Sully and Frederick re-engaged the few remaining Risen, while Chrom, Virion, and Lissa were stuck in awe at the transgressing event.

In utter disbelief, Chrom watched as the sky's eye slowly closed shut, waves of magic floating off the wormhole. The light circle around the eye, as well as its runes, began to fade away.

"Fairen!" Lissa screamed with all her might. Chrom turned his head towards Lissa's desperate cry to find a large hand axe soaring through the air sideways at Fairen. Before he could even take a breath, the axe head met the right end of Fairen's torso, and Fairen winced and was pushed back as the weapon flew right through him, cutting his stomach by a third, leaving a splatter of blood on the ground behind him.

Chrom felt a shock to his system massive enough to leave his face feeling needle pinrpicks. Fairen's spell channeling faltered, and he had to bare his teeth and close one eye to fight through the agony. Chrom looked back towards the battlefield to see one particularly large Risen get completely run through by Frederick's lance in an odd display of complete rage from the paladin. Lissa had gotten off Daisy at some point and was dashing across the burnt field towards Fairen as fast as her legs could carry her.

The eye continued to shut as Fairen put more and more magic into his spell. The beast on the other side was approaching the opening at a frightening speed, but it seemed that there was no stopping the eye's closure. The beast opened its jaw and let out one last deafening roar in utter scorn and frustration before the portal closed before everyone's eyes and the lightning connection between it and Fairen disappeared.

At the shutting of the portal, an immense ripple of force cast through the air, hitting everything on the ground almost all at once. It ripped through trees, tearing them of their branches and tilting those who were already weak from the forest fire. It kicked up the air, pushing up soot and ash in big clouds. Chrom was violently flung to his feet, and he grunted and covered his head to try and minimize damage. He could hear the cries of everyone else being affected the same, with Daisy's squawking whinny echoing through the night as the great warhorse was pushed to its side.

Fairen shot back at ten miles an hour, having no longer been in power of his magic, and he rolled along the ground without control, leaving a trail of blood in his wake with every bounce of his pliant, malleable body on the hard earth.

Finally, he skid to a painful stop on his back, unmoving. Chrom got to his feet and froze at the sight of Fairen. Then, Fairen sat up, and Chrom let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. That breath quickly choked when Chrom took three steps forward, properly focused his eyesight on Fairen's form, and found the pink, shining flesh of Fairen's intestines pouring out of the wound on the side of his stomach, all still attached to the insides of his body.

"Shit, shit, shit," Fairen said, eyes wide and no longer glowing. He leaned on one elbow and used his other hand to try and paw at his guts, bringing them in towards his body. Shock and panic overruled the excruciating pain he was feeling. He could feel warmth leave his body below him as a small pool of blood formed under his soaking jacket. "Shit, shit, shit," he continued in whispered, quickly heaved breaths, trying to wrap his fingers around the rope-like flesh of his digestive system, only for his fingers to not have enough strength. Instead his intestines just slipped through every time.

Chrom heard Lissa scream Fairen's name again, and looked over his shoulder as Lissa approached Chrom. Fairen looked up at Lissa and Chrom, dread and horror painted all over his visage, sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Lissa! Stay back!" Fairen shouted in a mangled tone, reaching his bloodied hand out. Lissa ignored him, and kept running. "Stay away from me! Chrom!" He looked Chrom in the eye. "Keep her away!" Chrom stared dumbly, not understanding what Fairen was asking. "For the love of everything, keep her away!"

At the very last possible second, Chrom's arm shot out and grabbed Lissa by the shoulder, almost flinging her off her feet as Chrom grabbed a hold of her and pulled back.

"Agk!" Lissa said in pain. She struggled under Chrom's grasp, and Chrom had to latch under her armpits with both his forearms. "Erg, Chrom! Let me go!"

"Oh, by the Moon, by the Moon," Fairen muttered, giving up with his intestines and roughly falling back prone to once again face the stars. His breathing quickened. He could feel the roar of adrenaline that his rapidly beating heart was outputting. An emptiness consumed his being, something beyond material and blood, something that he was familiar with, and something that was one of his worst fears. He shuddered as his whole body tensed up as best as it could. "Oh, here it comes, here it comes..."

It started with Fairen letting out a quiet moan that quickly accelerated to a hair-raising wail as blue static erupted from Fairen's body like a fountain, growing quickly large in size, spreading light around the area. Fairen's back was lifted off the ground, but his intestines were long enough to stay put as he shook and convulsed, his face stuck in an expression of indescribable pain, where the pit of agony had no visible bottom, and continued long, long into the darkness. His eyes were wide open, pupils shrunk, and as he was forced to witness every second of torture dealt upon him, the torment made him utterly blind. Fairen ran out of breath again, and again, and when he breathed in his screaming started anew as the electricity refused to stop. A strange fog formed around Fairen's body, slightly obscuring the environment surrounding Fairen.

Finally, Chrom realized, after almost thirty straight seconds, it was over. It had ended like it started: as a slow deacceleration with the static petering out, and Fairen's body returning to normal. He laid still, completely unmoving, his arms splayed out.

"No," Lissa said quietly. Chrom finally let go of her, arms falling weakly to his sides. "NO!" she screamed.

Lissa ran at Fairen until she dropped to knees and slid to a stop behind him. Chrom jogged after her, with Frederick, Sully, and Virion following behind, no living undead remaining. The masked swordsman watched from afar, having picked themselves and their weapon up off the ground, and they stared open-mouthed, unable to move.

"Gods, oh gods," Lissa mumbled, staff in her right hand as she looked over Fairen with her knees partially submerged in his puddle of blood. He was deathly pale, with open eyes that looked up at the sky but saw nothing.

Lissa's hands were shaking, her pupils shrunken as she seemingly forgot how to breathe properly. Chrom, noticing her distress, put a hand on her shoulder. "Do... do you think you can help?" Chrom asked her.

Lissa looked over her shoulder for a moment at her brother, then went back to Fairen. She let out one last shudder, closing her eyes and letting out a calming sigh, then her shaking significantly reduced. When she opened them, she locked on to Fairen.

"Remember your training," Lissa muttered to herself. Lissa tapped Fairen's shoulder. "Fairen? Fairen, can you hear me?"

He turned his head towards her voice, but his gaze did not focus on her.

"Everything's going to be alright," she said, although no one was sure if that was to herself or to Fairen. "Everything's going to be alright," she repeated, and pointed her staff down at Fairen's intestines. She focused, and the staff's orb glowed bright for a moment. Fairen's out innards suddenly became clean, free of any soot, dirt, or dust, along with the rest of the bloody, bleeding wound. She put her staff down to the side and grabbed his intestines with both her hands.

"This is going to hurt for a bit, so just... prepare yourself," Lissa told Fairen. Then, she started to manually feed his intestines back into his torso, taking slow and immaculate care to put them back in where she was taught. She was up to her right forearm in his body, leaning forward and placing his stuffing back in. Her outfit was slowly covering in blood. Fairen let out a groan as she let go of the intestines in her left hand and used it to spread the open cut without ripping the tissue any further, pushing hard from the inside of his skin with her other hand, his stomach uncannily distorting. Sweat rolled down her face.

Chrom stayed steady behind her, unsure whether to kneel down or stay standing, whether to try and give words of encouragement or stay silent, whether to look at Lissa's work or to stare at Fairen's expressionless face. Frederick and Sully stood behind Chrom on their mounts, faces grim. Virion had already looked away a long time ago, after having initially saw Fairen's condition for a brief second.

"A blade," Lissa said, pausing for a moment. "I need a clean blade. Chrom!" she shouted from stress, looking behind her. "I need you to use Falchion on Fairen. His wound needs to be wider so I can properly put his intestines back."

Wordlessly, Chrom stepped forward and drew his sword, his expression paralyzed in emotionless duty. Lissa pulled her hand out of Fairen and lifted up his shirt and shimmied his pants down slightly to give her a better view of the wound. She was caught stunned by the number of bruises that dotted up and down Fairen's chest and stomach, with some of his ribs clearly cracked and broken based on how his ribcage looked. He hadn't said a single thing, Lissa thought, and shook herself back to the bigger problem.

"Isn't Chrom's sword dirty with those undead freaks' blood?" Sully managed to ask.

"Falchion's properties as a holy blade cleans itself, from evil impurities to blood," Frederick informed her.

_Holy blade?_ Fairen thought to himself incredulously, his inner voice only a weak echo within his mind. The thought was lost to forgotten darkness only seconds later.

Lissa gave stout instruction to Chrom as he cut into the skin of Fairen's stomach slowly and with great consideration. Fairen barely made a face at the fact. The cut was clean and straight, and stopped just before his central stomach muscles. Lissa was able to get better access to Fairen's insides, and properly fed the rest of his intestines back into his body. She worked speedily; she knew she was working against time.

Finally finished, Lissa leaned and shuffled back, grabbing her staff. She needed a breather, but didn't allow herself one, as she leaned the whole of the staff over Fairen's body, grabbed it with both her hands, and poured as much effort as she could into the healing staff. The area around Fairen's body was illuminated with a glorious, calming cyan light from the orb, so bright that everyone had to squint. Virion turned back to the scene, shielding his eyes as he watched the healing process begin.

A high-pitched note ran out as the cut that ran from the front of Fairen's stomach to his back mended into itself, with new flesh growing where it was missing, Fairen's body bringing itself together to reattach naturally. The bruises and black marks on Fairen's torso, along with his disjointed ribs, also patched themselves up slowly over time. Colour quickly returned to the skin of Fairen's belly, which after a moment flowed up and heated up a part of his neck and face too. The dried blood around his skin and outfit, however, stayed.

"Chrom, cut his shirt vertically from bottom to top, and help me remove his clothes," Lissa said. Chrom leaned over and started doing just that. "We need to check for any more injuries on his arms and neck."

"You're quite the thorough one, aren't you?" Fairen said with a groan. Everyone stopped and looked at him, wide-eyed. He was staring at Lissa with a cocky smile, one-eye wincing, but he did not move his body otherwise.

"Idiot," Lissa said, and ripped up the rest of his shirt by hand herself. Chrom pulled his sword away from Fairen, put it away, and him and Lissa grabbed Fairen's shirt and coat and got it off him, with Fairen helping a little by lifting his head off the ground and shifting his arms around.

"I can't believe you're not unconscious right now," Lissa said, examining the bruises all over his arms. There was a nasty cut on his left elbow that bled terribly, but otherwise his wounds weren't as nearly as bad as the one on his stomach. She took her staff and slowly began healing what she could, the light from the staff not as nearly as bright as before. The crack on the staff's orb had almost reached end-to-end. "Normally, people are supposed to pass out from the pain or blood loss."

"I'm a special kind of guy, is all. Real tough," Fairen stated simply, chuckling. He looked up to Chrom's stern face, and Fairen's expression softened. "I'm sorry I caused you all worry."

"You're forgiven, Fairen," Chrom said without consulting anyone else on the matter. "I think we have a lot of questions for you, though."

"I understand," Fairen said. Then, he coughed, and as the last of Fairen's wounds on his arms healed, the crack on Lissa's orb completely ran through the crystal, and the light emitting from it died out. Lissa looked up at it in a slight moment of confusion that turned to understanding, and she held the top end of the staff away from herself. Everyone watched as the orb harmlessly shattered a few seconds later, creating fluttering crystalline sparkles that twinkles in the air before the wind passed through and carried them off to fields unknown.

"Well, there goes the last of it," Lissa said in finality, putting her bloodied fists onto her hips and re-examining Fairen's shirtless figure. There was already a scar where Fairen's stomach wound was. "We should still check out your legs though, but I don't have any conventional medic supplies with me. I didn't expect to have to heal so much!"

Fairen leaned up on his elbows. "I think I'll be fine. My legs are a one-out-of-ten in pain compared to my stomach."

Lissa frowned. "Normally, I would say that you aren't supposed to move. But we don't have a medical carriage, and somebody's going to have to carry you out of here."

Fairen, with a curious expression, looked over his feet as he swung them side to side, his heels still on the ground. "They don't feel broken or maimed."

Fairen began to get up, but as he did Lissa put out her broken staff and blocked his way. He let out a questioning tone and peered at Lissa, who couldn't meet his eyes until a moment later.

"I just have one little question. What in Naga's blood was that?" Lissa asked Fairen. Chrom took a step back in shock at her suddenly swearing so brazenly. Frederick's eyes widened. Sully gawked, not believing Lissa had it in her in the first place.

"What do you—" Fairen began, one eyebrow raised.

"The blue static-thunder-stuff. What was that blue thunder that erupted from your body? How did you know it was going to happen? Why did you want me to stay back?"

"Lissa, I—"

"You could have died, Fairen," Lissa continued, volume growing. "You could have died, and yet you tried to keep me away, and then you were _electrocuted_, and you still almost died! I can't believe you're not dead already!"

Lissa shouted her last words, breathing heavily, glaring at Fairen. Silence reigned for a beat, the wind whistling tricky melodies into everyone's ears.

"I'm sorry, Lissa," Fairen said, looking down to his bare stomach, eyeballing his newly minted scar. "But I don't know where to begin. You know my magic's different from yours. It was just magical —"

"_Do not_ give me 'magical exhaustion' again," Lissa said, interrupting. "Fairen, my job on the Shepherds is to help and heal people. If you are hurt, and you tell me that 'magical exhaustion' is afflicting you, something that I have no understanding of, how in the name of Naga am I supposed to help you?"

There were tears in Lissa's eyes that steadily burst forth as she pleaded at Fairen, her clenched fists pressing against her chest. Fairen blinked, and struggled with his next words. She sobbed, and Chrom rubbed her shoulder. Fairen closed his eyes, snorted, and shook his head.

"Ok, I get it," Fairen said. He sighed before he started again. "Magical exhaustion is an affliction of the kind of magic I perform." Suddenly, Fairen had everyone's attention as they all leaned in to his next words. Lissa's tears slowed. "When we call upon powers of standard wandless – or I guess in your case, staffless – magic, it costs mana, something that's supposed to be in every caster. The mana interacts with something called magicka in the air and your spell is the result."

Fairen turned his head towards Lissa, meeting her eyes. "So, spells always have a mana cost. People who are capable of wandless spellcasting are always creating mana. But, it's very slow, so after enough spells you'll run low, or completely out, of mana." He held up two fingers. "Two things happen when you try to cast manaless magic. First is that the spell fails. The second is if the spellcaster is really crafty and skilled they can force the spell out of their body with pure and utter willpower. The problem with that, is, well, ehh..."

Fairen tilted his head side to side, making a face. "What happens?" Lissa asked.

"Well, due to the laws of magic as we know it, or as I know it, the spell takes its cost in mana regardless, even if you don't have enough. The only other energy source that your body supplies that can support spellcasting, is, well, your soul."

Lissa gasped, and Chrom's eyebrows shot up. "If you spellcast without enough mana, and you force it..." Fairen leaded on.

"It takes a part of your soul?" Lissa finished loudly. Fairen nodded with thin, straight lips. "Ugh, you reckless idiot!" Lissa complained, eyes closed and shaking in anger.

"I've never heard of such a thing, 'soul-powered magic'," Chrom said, a hand on his forehead. He felt blood leave his face at Fairen's admission.

"Ninety-nine times out of a hundred it kills the spellcaster," Fairen said, nodding. "But, on rare occasion, when the spellcaster is especially smart and careful..."

"And is tough and special like you are," Lissa said mockingly, hands on her hips.

Fairen just gave an innocent smile and a shrug. "Then they can get away with it. But," Fairen lifted up his right hand and examined it, turning it over to watch the life lines on his palm. "I think I'm at my absolute limit. No more magic from me for a long, long time."

"Can it be reversed?" Chrom asked, stepping forward. "Or are you stuck like this, partially soulless, for the rest of your life?"

"Oh, it can be healed," Fairen said cheerfully. "Your soul is constantly repairing itself if it gets damaged and as long as its inside its original host. I'll get my magic back, eventually. I mean I could try casting some now, but it would be a really, really bad idea."

"Yeah, especially after all the work I did to heal you," Lissa said, folding her arms in a harrumph. "That was my favourite healing orb, too! You owe me one healing orb, mister!"

Fairen chuckled. "Alright. As soon as I can make up the money, I'll buy you a new one."

Lissa gave him one last look, shook her head, and got up. Her battle regalia was doused in Fairen's blood.

"You're crazy, you know that, right?" Sully said, trotting up to him with a wild grin on her face.

"So I've been told," said with a wavering voice as he tried to get his feet, but was struggling. Chrom immediately grabbed his arm, hoisted him up, and put his head beneath Fairen's shoulder.

Fairen looked around the fire-ruined field, and counted six people, including him. He could have sworn there was a seventh. Then, he looked up at the sky. "Could someone tell me what happened to the portal?"

On the horizon, the sun finally came to light. Dawn was arriving.

* * *

Lucina watched the Shepherds from afar, under the shade of trees, one hand on the oak trunk she was behind. She stood still, her hair swaying slightly in the wind as her eyes tracked the group's musings, unable to actually make out what they were saying. She was primarily focused on the strange man with ruined clothes that stood underneath the support of her father. The man listened intently on what the party was telling him. Lucina's lips were pursed in thought. His clothes were in such a bad condition that he would not fit out of place in her timeline.

She glanced up at the sky for a breath, then her attention went back to the strange man as he laughed jovially at something that someone told him. Auntie Lissa took a step towards him and gave him a lecture with a stern expression. Lucina shook her head, then turned and left. The scene of that man closing the portal she used, the portal that went across time, shut, played over and over in her head. It was almost the only thing she could think about.

Everything was wrong. She didn't know what exactly to expect. All she had was a name and a description: "Robin", who had white hair and used swords and tomes. But this man had brown hair and a battleaxe. Who was that man? Did Laurent give her the wrong information? She didn't catch his name, and had the horrible feeling that something was terribly, terribly wrong. But she'd have to go out and search for clues herself before anything else.

And if that man wasn't it... then where was Robin?

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

So, it's been months since the last update. Sorry not sorry. I had winter classes as a university student and then the pandemic hit and I'm so lonely oh god I miss my ex why – REGARDLESS, such is the life of a fanfiction writer. And I know some writers update every week, or even every few days, but I do want to output work that has some level of quality and length, one that I hold myself up to because I actually want to publish a book one day and I want to keep good habits, not to be elitist or anything. There are still somethings about my writing in this chapter that I consider lazy: tone of word choice isn't consistent, and I didn't devout entire paragraphs to Sully and Virion's appearances just because I didn't want to and was lazy, but they will be minor characters for the story, so it isn't that important.

I hope this chapter doesn't feel like a climax for some people. Stakes get suddenly really high, but I couldn't help but feel when I was doing research for the chapter that a giant time hole opening up in the sky is a really important event, especially when zombies from the future are falling through it. I also needed a way to get rid of Fairen's magic and set him back to zero, otherwise we'd just have a case of OP OC. Things will get a lot slower for a bit, trust me, but it's not like action is going to take a back seat. Awakening is a series of plot points followed by maps and missions, after all.

I gave Lissa first aid and medic experience because I think a magical healer should be more than just "wave a magical wand and everything is better now!" She needs to have medical experience outside of healing spells, so I gave her some and bullshitted the rest. I know first aid, but I don't actually know how to repair exposed intestines LOL.

Also, I made the orbs of staves shatter instead of the whole staff breaking. It made sense to me from a character design perspective, where Lissa in official artwork is holding healing staffs that are designed to mesh with her outfit and hair. Instead of assigning her a new staff, she'll just get a new orb. That's how staffs will work in this world. Of course, the staff body itself could bend from some force and then it will be useless, but the orbs will be the source of magical power, not the staves itself.

Story outline's around 25% done. I wanted it to be 35% done before I started this chapter, but it was hours and hours into developing the outline before I told myself that I needed to start the next chapter now before I went plot-crazy. The next ten chapters or so are planned otherwise, and I have a general direction and conflict I want to push the main characters towards, so it isn't all a shitshow.

So, hopefully by next chapter, the story outline will be at least 35% finish, I can focus on the next ten chapters without having to brainstorm what to actually put in them. In addition, I want to create a blog separate from this website where I can post author's notes, writing updates, and chapter previews. I wish the FanFiction website had a blogs feature. That would make things so much easier. Once the new blog is up, author's notes will no longer be posted to the beginning and ends of chapters in order to display a more accurate word count for the story as whole. Old author's notes before the move to blog posts will probably stay in their respective chapters.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I just set up people to ship Lissa and Fairen or for them to think I'm shipping them. I'm just going to shut up and let the dice rest as they may.

See you all in five months LOL

jk I wrote this chapter over a week and a half trying to average 2000 words a day. I didn't really make it, it wasn't consistent, but at least it's finished, and as long as I'm jobless (fuck my city for not sending emails to applications I sent back in FEBRUARY) I will be spending my extraordinary amount of free time writing. At least until I get a summer job. Then, my writing schedule will probably slow down.

Or my streaming schedule will drop (and no I'm not telling you what it is, I want to keep my fanfiction life away from other stuff in my otherwise "normal" life).

Or my gaming schedule will shrink (which will probably end badly for me. I need my gaming!).

Either way, see you next chapter.

* * *

LEVEL UP!

Fairen

Class: Explorer

Level: 2 + 1 = 3

HP: 19 + 1 = 20

STR: 5 + 1 = 6

MAG: 7 + 1 = 8

SKL: 6 + 1 = 7

SPD: 7 + 1 = 8

LCK: 1

DEF: 5 + 1 = 6

RES: 7

MOV: 5

Level-up Quote: "Get some! Yeah!"

WEAP. LVL: Sword = E, Axe = E, Lance = E

Skills Equipped:

\- Scrapper: Can use any melee weapon, but gains no weap. exp.


	3. Chapter 2: The Kingdom's Heart

At first, as Fairen had requested, Chrom relayed the events during which Fairen had fallen under his "red" spell. As he spoke, the group made a quick stop at a nearby shallow stream (one that had not been ruined by the earthquakes and firestorm) in order for Fairen to wash his blood off his chest, pants, and cut shirt to the best of his ability. Fairen nodded along with Chrom's words, but Frederick noted Fairen seemed to be only half paying attention. Soon after, it became clear that, once seated behind Sully on their way to the Ylissian capital, Fairen was in no condition to pay any more attention of any kind. He was still quite pale, despite Lissa's efforts, and although the sleep-deprived Shepherds had a relaxing trek with no brigands or undead in sight, everyone saw that Fairen could not keep his eyes open for more than thirty seconds. The calming tempo of the horse's steps did not help Fairen's situation.

"At least he's used to riding," Sully commentated, feeling Fairen lean against her shoulder and back, fast asleep. The six of them walked down a dirt trail north that was nary used and none too wide. On occasion they would cross fellow Ylissian travelers, such as farmers who were off to the Southtown market to sell their produce, or mercenaries on an expedition to some unknown location. Regardless, the most company the Shepherds had were the trees lining the road and the morning birds fluttering around, singing their early tunes.

"That he is," Chrom said, giving a glance to their newest member with a smile. "He deserves this well-earned rest."

"He did just close a hole the size of a mountain," Lissa said, albeit quietly so to not wake up Fairen. "And getting healed that much takes a lot out of a person. Like, I know I already said it, but good grief! I was surprised that he hadn't stayed unconscious. The average person would have been out like a light for days."

"His spellcasting was marvelous," Virion commented. "I'm not a specialist in the field of incantation, but what he did was breathtaking. It was an act of true beauty."

"Yeah," Chrom said cautiously, eyeballing the ruby crystal that hung around Fairen's neck. "But I am worried about what kind of spell he was under. That necklace of his puts him under some odd effects."

"I definitely sensed some kind of strange energy coming from it," Lissa commented. Chrom nodded at her.

"Perhaps it is in our best interest to confiscate his pendant," Frederick said, not turning his head away from the road. "Who knows when it will go off again. That leaves Fairen as a liability to the Shepherds until we gain control of it."

"Let's not be hasty," Chrom said, returning his glance to Fairen. "I want to at least give Fairen a chance to explain to us what it is. Although he explained some of his magic to us, if the necklace is somehow a part of his power, we might cripple his abilities."

Frederick went silent for a beat. "As you wish, milord."

Chrom nodded, and gulped. He just hoped that Fairen had a good explanation for everything that had happened, and that he would be able to shed some light on all the mysteries he presented.

* * *

It had only been until after the Shepherds had gotten into the grand city of Ylistol that Fairen had woken up, his eyes opening to sights of strong, stone houses, wooden market stalls, and many, many citizens. The road wasn't too thin, and could fit about two and a half horse carts on it, but when Fairen looked carefully he was pleasantly surprised to see it made of worked cobblestone tiles, upkept nicely in an otherwise very used and very busy trail. The buildings varied from one to two floor affairs, made from a variety of pale, pinkish clay bricks, hardened by time and the sun. Most buildings were storefronts, with various wares displayed either through polished glass windows or open storefronts. There were market stalls set up in front of structures that did not look like shops, but only where there was room to do so, and not in the middle of the road.

All different kinds of people were on the daily go, men and women of different heights, sizes, skin colours, and much more. Some adorned well-worn travel equipment, posing as adventurers with swords and axes hanging from their backs, while most wore simple shirts and dresses of the working and middle class as they trotted along the path, the occasional group of children running past everyone's legs, excitedly yelling in play. Even a few people clearly in high wealth appeared, with ordinate clothing and fine shoes that were shined to a sheen.

"We're here, huh?" Fairen said blearily, leaning up from Sully's back. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, trying to fight off fatigue, his face still pale.

"Welcome to Ylisstol, Fairen." Chrom said, smiling.

"And welcome back to the land of the living," Sully quipped, peering over her shoulder. "Seriously, you made the back of my armour look like a pillow or somethin'. I hope I don't find it rusted from your drool later."

Fairen laughed nervously, rolling his tongue around his mouth to see how dry it was.

"It is but a pleasure to visit the realm of dreams once in a while, no?" Virion added.

Fairen shook his head. "Still don't feel one-hundred percent yet."

"Well, in any case," Frederick said, looking around at the populace. "It appears the capital was spared the chaos we encountered, thank the gods. I see no evidence at all of the great quake, nor of the monsters that fell with it. It must have been limited to the forest.

Lissa seemed to have a joyful shine to her eyes. "It's a relief, for sure."

Fairen knocked on the back of Sully's armour. "Thanks again for letting me catch a ride." He gave a terse glance to Frederick and saw his battle axe holstered on the side of Daisy as Frederick gave a wary glance in Fairen's general direction.

"Don't mention it," was all Sully said. Her smirk quickly folded, however, when she felt the weight behind her saddle shift to the side, and she jerked a little when Fairen slid off the horse.

"Whoa, hey," Sully said, stopping the horse and turning to look at where Fairen had dropped. All the Shepherds rushed to Fairen's attention. Fairen had landed on his feet, and was leaning over with his hands on his knees for a second or two, taking a breather before standing straight up.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lissa said after it became apparent that Fairen dismounted on his own volition. "You shouldn't be standing right now, let alone awake! You're going to hurt yourself!"

Fairen waved his hand at Lissa's concerns, smiling to disarm. "I think I can handle the rest of the way on my own, thanks."

"Fairen," Chrom stated, one hand on his hip, his lips drawn in a thin line.

The new Shepherd's expression fell, and he turned towards Chrom. He took a step forward, one that was unconvincing in its strength and balance, and Fairen told Chrom in a low voice "please, Chrom. Just let me do this for myself. I know I've demanded a lot from you by now, but I need to be able to walk on my own two feet."

Chrom's stern eyes stayed until the walls came crumbling down and he release his hand from his hip. "Alright, Fairen, you can walk with us. But do take care with your steps. If you end up falling, we won't let you off the hook second time."

Fairen gave a beaming smile. "Thanks, Chrom."

"Chroooom!" Lissa whined, her frown deep as she glared at her brother, then at Fairen. "You can't be serious! He needs as much rest as he can get!"

Chrom appeared troubled for a brief second before he responded. "I have to consider all the wants and needs of the party equally, Lissa."

"But I'm the healer!" Lissa said, "I'm the one who healed him back up, and I'm the expert! And I say that he needs to keep seated until we get him to a bed for bedrest!"

Fairen fiddled with his fingers while looking back and forth between the two, not knowing what to say. Chrom was in conflict with himself.

"As Lissa is, indeed, the current medic of this squad, I recommend that Fairen were to be put back on Sully's horse," Frederick said. "However, if we are looking to compromise, then I suggest Fairen ride on horseback until we get to the castle and then see if he is strong enough to walk on his own."

Chrom nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. Fairen?"

Fairen frowned, then sighed in defeat. "Alright." He turned to Sully and got back up on the horse with Sully's help. From the back of the steed, Fairen took a sideways, disappointed look at Lissa behind him, who could only turn away at Fairen's gaze while the team started moving again.

As they emerged from the thin street into Ylistol's main avenue, they encountered an enlarged crowd of people, one that was on both sides of the street but left the center of the road wide and clear. They were all cheering in a cacophony of joy and admiration. It only took Chrom three seconds for his face to go from confusion to understanding as he recognized the mass of armoured guards, regal white horses, and flags carrying the symbol of Naga's Brand that all marched in a parade between the onlookers.

A woman in a regal white dress, radiant in her aura and stature, stood tall on the back of a metal, polished and painted wagon that was equal in nobility to her implied position. She smiled at the crowd as she peered back and forth to both sides of the road, her presence somehow granting energy and elation to everyone who saw her, like a ray of sunshine through the shadows.

"Who's that?" Fairen asked.

"That is the fair exalt of Ylisse, Lady Emmeryn," Frederick said.

"Exalt? So, the queen, then?"

"That is one alternative interpretation of 'exalt', yes," Frederick stated. "But the exalt is much more than just a simple queen. She is a symbol of the greater peace, an icon of the divine dragon Naga, and a high pontifex of the churches of Naga throughout the countryside."

"Ah," Fairen said, rubbing his chin. "She's like a pope too?"

"She is more important than the pope," Frederick said a bit hastily. "And would be above him in stature if not for her responsibilities to the kingdom and her people. Not to undermine the pope, mind you."

Fairen watched the parade slowly continue down the avenue as the cheers and joyful cries of the public bounced between the building walls. "Naga seems like a pretty big deal around here."

Chrom and Lissa glanced at Fairen as Frederick renewed his explanation. "Absolutely. She, in her holy divinity, is our sacred god of Ylisstol, and elsewhere. Of course, Ylisse accepts all religions, but I've seen none other that grant as much proof of divinity."

"And Naga has?" Fairen questioned.

Frederick swept his arm out towards Emmeryn. "Lady Emmeryn is proof of such existence. Her legacy, as well as the history of the royal family, is recorded to be in direct contact with the divine dragon. Long ago, at the dawn of our age, the fell dragon tried to destroy the world. But the first exalt joined forces with the divine dragon and laid the beast low. Exalt Emmeryn reminds us all of the peace we fought for then."

"With the Plegians poking at our borders, the people need her," Chrom said to Fairen. "She's a calming presence, when some might otherwise call for war."

Fairen tsked, then shook his head. "I think I asked this before, but there's been discussion with the Plegian rulers about the bandit excursions, right?"

"There is no room for parlay when speaking to that dastard Gangrel," Chrom said beneath clenched teeth, his gloved hand curling into a tight fist. "We call him the 'mad king' for a reason."

"Of course," Fairen said, observing the parade as it reached the end of the street and turned the corner of the block, his gaze clouded in deep, deep thought. _I think I'll go visit one of these 'Naga' churches when I have the time._

"Well, perhaps we'll meet with Emm later. She seems to be occupied for the moment," Chrom decidedly said, putting his fists on both sides of his hips. Fairen's mouth opened in a silent question, eyebrows raised, but Chrom continued right through without noticing. "We should reconvene at the Shephards' garrison and give a status update to everyone."

"Ooh!" Lissa squealed happily. She turned to Fairen. "I think you'll love it there! I can't wait to introduce you to everyone!"

* * *

The Shepherds made their way north through town, up a sizable hill that held the esteemed Castle Ylissia, the stronghold that held and protected the exalt and her family, or so was told to Fairen. The compound was impressive: large, grey stone walls towering fifty feet up stood around the castle in a circle, with three different entrances to the inner compound, all heavily guarded and defended by a garrison of royal guards and sturdy double doors. Chrom and the party took the eastmost entrance with little hassle, which led directly to the soldier barracks for the town, the Shepherds' garrison taking place in the same building. Once inside the outer walls, Fairen craned his head up to admire the large structure of the fortress, all in its glory, sturdy as it was square, with different towers jutting outward from the structure, their cone red roofs seemingly touching the floating clouds in the sky. Several paned windows were dotted uniformly along the first, second, and third floor walls, some closed. The whole place was well kept, with nary a piece of waylaid garbage.

As Fairen approached the headquarters building, Sully and Frederick bid adieu, leading their horses down a separate dirt trail that lead to some stables, with Virion in tow of Sully. Fairen had gotten off Sully's horse after the castle gates, and was willing to follow Lissa to their next destination, when they got into a short argument about how Fairen should go to bed or not as soo as they get there. A begrudging Lissa agreed to Fairen staying awake for as long as he could, but not without a lot of complaints from her. During the moment, a castle guard suddenly rushed Chrom asking for his presence, so Chrom excused himself and went off to go deal with some sort of abrupt business, leaving Fairen and Lissa to reach the Shepherds' garrison.

"Here we are!" Lissa exclaimed proudly, gesturing to the room before them as the heavy door closed behind Fairen.

The room was spacious, but cluttered. Crates and barrels were stacked against the far most wall and corner, shields and combat weapons leaning against the wooden surfaces. A large, square table with scattered papers, inkpots and quills sat beneath a set of open windows, sun flooding in along a pleasant southern draft. Bottles and brown paper bags were stacked next to each other at another corner of the room. On several stone shelves were books, purses, bags, and records that seemed to rest with a bit of dust. There was a lonesome chair next to a crate with parchment on it, separate of the others beneath the table at the opposite end of the room.

"Mmm," Fairen sounded out as he stepped farther into the room, nodding with an approving frown. "Nice."

"Lissa, my treasure!" Fairen heard a young lady say. He turned towards the source to find three other people in the room. "Are you all right? I've been on pins and needles!"

A young woman in a pink and white outfit rushed to Lissa's side. She had stark blonde hair that fell into finely drilled curls behind her head from two white bows that hung at the sides of her skull. Brown boots reached up to her knees, pink gloves extended down her wrists, and she had the cleanliness, posture, and total air of an aristocrat.

Fairen peered behind her to see another woman with light, steel armour beyond a purple battle dress with brown, flowing hair that almost reached just as far down. She, too, had boots that reached up to her knees (a common fashion statement, Fairen figured at this point), and watched Fairen with a kind but... cautious? No, shy, expression. The man beside her was topless, with impressive muscles defined in his biceps and pectorals, major armour only covering his stomach and groin. His dirty blonde hair was kept back by a black band that revealed a cocky smile and an ambitious glint in his eye.

"Oh, hey, Maribelle!" Lissa said with an innocent smile.

"'Oh, hey' yourself! I've sprouted fourteen grey hairs fretting over you!" Maribelle said, putting her hands firmly on Lissa's shoulders.

Fairen wore an awkward, mouthy smirk. _That seems like a dramatic overstatement._

"Aw, you worry too much," Lissa said, waving off Maribelle as she gently pulled her friend's hands off her. "Although I could do without the bugs, the bear barbecue, and the new recruits with death wishes..."

With her last statement, she gave a pointed look behind her at Fairen. Suddenly, Fairen felt all eyes on him, and he just looked down and shook his head with a hissing sigh from the back of his throat. Maribelle gave a look that Fairen did not like.

"Sounds like quite the adventure!" the burly man said, stepping up towards Fairen with his hands on his hips. "Probably nothing like ol' Teach's battles, though."

"Oh, so you're 'Teach' now, Vaike, is that it?" Lissa said with a giggle, arms drawn behind her back. "And here I thought people were just born lacking wits. It can be taught?"

"Ha! Never doubt the Vaike!" Vaike's tall posture and smile dropped for a moment. "Wait, was that an insult?"

"Beg pardon," the light-armoured lady said, physically leaning in towards the conversation. "But when might we see the captain?"

Maribelle gave a roll of her eyes and a tiny headshake before she focused back at Lissa. "Poor Sumia. She's simply been beside herself with concern. Her eyes were scanning the horizon all day during training. She might have earned fewer bruises fighting blindfolded."

"Aw, Sumia, that's so sweet of you to worry about Chrom," Lissa cooed.

"Worry? Well, I..." Sumia started. Fairen could already see blush filling in her cheeks. He immediately understood. "He's our captain—of course I'd worry!"

"So, who's the new guy?" Vaike said, derailing the topic and pointing at Fairen. "And why's he got a death wish?"

Fairen gave a flat stare, where the corners of his stretched lips pushed into his cheeks.

Lissa gestured towards Fairen with a hint of jovial incredulousness. "This is Fairen. He just joined the Shepherds. I had to stuff his insides back inside him after our last battle before he bled out."

Maribelle took a step back with a hand over her mouth. "O-Oh my!"

Vaike grimaced. Sumia blinked several times before her next words. "Are you ok? You're as pale as a ghost!"

_Damn, I need a mirror_, Fairen thought to himself. Do I really look that bad? "Yeah, I'm ok. But blood loss definitely causes ghostliness."

"And he has the audacity to stand walk around while ignoring orders from the healer that saved his life!" Lissa said, leaning angrily towards Fairen.

"Lissa, I already did what Chrom told me to do. I went on Sully's horse and now that I'm at the castle I'm on my own two feet. Being self-mobile is very important to me," Fairen said calmly.

"She's quite correct," Maribelle said. "You should be in a bed."

"And I haven't even gotten a single thank you yet!" Lissa stated, her tirade growing in volume.

Fairen's semi-cheerful expression fell. Suddenly, he took Lissa's hand with both of his and looked her straight in the eye. "Lissa, I am forever grateful for you saving my life. Thank you."

Lissa didn't know what to say before her lips screwed into a frown and she ripped herself from Fairen's grasp, turning away. "You don't have to be so dramatic about it!"

Fairen watched Vaike go cross-eyed. Then, he let out a booming belch that seemed to bounce around the room.

"Ugh, Vaike!" Maribelle said, cringing away from said person. "That was abhorrent! Must you baseborn oafs pollute even the air with your buffoonery?"

"Sorry," Vaike simply said, shrugging. "That was my steak sandwich lunch. Definitely tasted better on the way down than back up."

Somehow, Maribelle was able to make an even more disgusted face. Then the smell hit her and Lissa.

"Pee-yew! Vaike, did you also eat a can of trash on the side?" Lissa said in a clogged voice, pinching her nose and waving away the fumes. The burp hit Fairen, and curved his wrist under his nose and winced.

"I cannot handle this!" Maribelle cried, and with a panic she scurried out of the front door of the garrison.

"Didn't think it was that bad," Vaike said, not looking much too perturbed. Sumia quietly held her nose behind him.

"That's some rank dank stank, my dude," Fairen said. Then, lowering his hand to reveal a smarmy grin, his stomach flexed and he let out a burp of his own, although not as violent or loud as Vaike's.

"Hey!" Vaike said, pointing fingers at Fairen with a smile. "I see you've also got class!"

Lissa rolled her eyes. "Fairen, please. Not you too."

The front door to the garrison suddenly opened, with a new set of footsteps entering the room. Everyone turned to see Chrom reach the ring of companions, where he sniffed, then made a face.

"What's that smell?" He asked no one in particular.

Fairen doubled over in laughter, unable to help himself, to which Vaike soon followed.

Ignoring the two, Sumia stepped towards Chrom. "Captain! You've returned! I was—I mean, we were so—"

She took another step and her foot caught on her heel, sending her careening into the hard stone floor. Fairen and Chrom were immediately at her side.

"Are you ok?" Fairen asked with clear concern, the tears of laughter in his eyes no longer appropriate. Both he and Chrom lent their hand to Sumia as she got to her knees. She took Chrom's hand, and then, after a moment's consideration, also took Fairen's as the two men lifted Sumia up to her feet.

"I'm fine, thank you, Fairen," she said, nodding to Fairen then turning her head to Chrom, to which she let go and stepped away. "C-Captain."

"Was it those boots of yours again?" Chrom asked.

"No!" Sumia cried, arms at her sides. "I mean, yes! I mean..." She sighed. "Never mind."

"If you need new boots, we could always have the royal remodeler make you new ones," Chrom offered.

"No thank you, Captain."

"Alright then." Chrom turned to Fairen. "Come with me, Fairen. I've been in dialogue with Emm and she wants to meet the person who closed the hole in the sky."

"T-The exalt!?" Fairen shouted, stepping back in surprise. "Really?"

"It's imperative for her to know the details in which you closed the portal, in case Risen start falling again," Chrom said. Then, he gave a friendly smile. "She also just wants to meet the newest recruit of the Shepherds."

_How in deep are the Shepherds with royalty?_ Fairen asked himself, confusion mixed with mild panic. After a beat, he nodded then followed Chrom back out the front door, with his last thought before leaving about the strange, burly soldier that stood silently in the corner in a humongous set of heavy blue armour.

The metal mechanism of the door closed shut with a clank, leaving everyone in remote, slightly awkward silence.

"Commander Phila was talking about reports of dead soldiers on the kingdom outskirts," Sumia said, a finger to her chin in wonder. "Was that what Chrom was talking about?"

Suddenly, Lissa grew a huge grin on her face that caught Vaike's attention. "Oh boy, do I have a story for you guys..."

* * *

The exalt's chamber was deep as it was absolutely massive. A royal crimson carpet aligned the center of the floor, rising up all the way to the end of the room. Carved, polished pillars stood tall at the sides, forming curving arches at the height of the first ceiling, the second hanging much higher above with glowing silver chandeliers lighting the room, lit torches on the pillars. Beside the pillars were side sections with barred, blue-glass windows, displaying two different courtyards on two different sides of the throne room. Grand shield banners hung on the pillars in between torches, displaying a fierce white emblem etched into the green felt, depicting something akin to a tree-sword with several fruit hanging from the branches of its blade.

Frederick had met up with Chrom and Fairen as they navigated the castle halls, and as the three of them entered the chamber from the giant oak doors of the throne room, Fairen could spot the exalt from a hundred meters away, she sat on the throne with two other people: an older woman with grey hair dressed in light armour, and a butler. With a nod towards the butler, the butler walked away and off toward some door hidden to the right. Then, the exalt got up from her throne and approached the group.

Fairen was surprised that the exalt met them halfway. They both approached until they stood feet away from each other at the direct center of the chamber. Up close, Fairen could make out more details of Emmeryn: how her gold and grass robe hung over her shoulders and body like it would for a church bishop, the elaborate designs of the collar and collar piece that hung around her neck, the twin twirls of her hair rolling down the edges of her cheeks, her uniquely simplistic arch-crown, and the odd symbol on her forehead of a raindrop falling onto the wings of a graceful bird.

"Greetings again, Chrom. And you too, Frederick," Emmeryn said, nodding to the two, her voice soft, but firm.

"Hey Emm," Chrom said. Fairen had compartmentalized the casual air Chrom used to speak of the exalt thus far, but he willfully ignored it and pushed it to the back of his mind.

Frederick gave a bow. "Milady. How do you fair this day?"

"I am well, Frederick," Emmeryn said, beaming. "Thank you for asking. And is this the mage you have spoken so much of, Chrom? Fairen, I believe you said his name was."

Emmeryn finally turned to Fairen, who was behind Chrom on Chrom's right side. Without looking Emmeryn in the eye, Fairen performed a very specific bow, one where he stepped back and lowered his right knee to land parallel with his other foot, and where he tucked his right fist to his chest, his left arm swaying slowly and gracefully behind him while he ducked his head low. Frederick and Chrom backed up slightly from Fairen's display.

"Your majesty," Fairen said. "I am Fairen."

"Please, rise," Emmeryn said. Fairen did as she told. "I am not one for such pleasantries. You are a part of the Shepherds, are you not? I wish to treat each other more at an equal level."

"As you wish." Fairen's tone was neutral and flat, as was his expression. Chrom and Frederick shared a glance, eyebrows high.

Emmeryn tried to give a welcoming, disarming smile. "Chrom has spoken about your exploits, before and after joining the Shepherds. Tell me, is it true that you sealed a great, dead-spawning hole in the sky with your magic?"

"It is, your majesty," Fairen said.

"And that you survived an almost fatal blow to the stomach?" Emmeryn asked.

"It is true, your majesty."

"What about that necklace of yours? I've heard it contains a great amount of power."

It took all of Fairen's willpower to not react to the exalt's statement, but he could not stop his hand shooting to grasp the hanging ruby around his neck. His mind raced, and one of his first thoughts was to Chrom, who Fairen didn't look at, but knew was at his side, watching him. "...It is but a symbol of the powers that I garner from the land I come from, your majesty."

"Truly?" Emmeryn stated, still smiling. "From what land do you hail?"

Fairen kept his eyes twitching in the direction of the other Shepherds in the room. He knew how interesting this would be to them. "I am a representative of the land of Alimaris, your majesty."

Fairen prayed that the exalt could not pick up on the slight hesitation of his words.

"I have not heard of such a kingdom," Emmeryn said.

"I'm afraid it's not one near here, your majesty," Fairen explained, letting some of his concern appear on his face. "In fact, I'm not quite certain where 'here' exactly is. I have not heard of a 'Ylisse' either, nor a 'Plegia'. I cannot say how far away from home I am."

Emmeryn frowned. "That is unfortunate, to say the very least. But you have just joined the Shepherds, have you not? Will you attempt to search for a way back to your kingdom?"

Fairen let himself glance to Chrom and Frederick's position for a moment, catching Chrom's intensely inquizitive gaze. "Your majesty, Captain Chrom has graciously let me into his ranks despite not knowing anything about myself, my position, or where I'm from. I am in his debt, and in debt to the Shepherds as a whole. I do not plan on pursuing the goal of finding a way to return home without paying off those debts first."

"Fairen," Chrom started, "when I asked if you wanted to join us, it wasn't with the intention of having you pay off any sort of 'debt'. It was supposed to be involuntary, at your discretion. You can leave any time you want as long as you tell me before hand."

Blinking, Fairen held back a frustrated frown. He could feel his own heartbeat accelerate.

"Yes, that doesn't seem like something my brother would hold you to," Emmeryn added.

A beat in the conversation.

"...I beg your pardon, your majesty?" Fairen said, gawking.

Emmeryn's thoughts danced behind her grey eyes. "Yes, Chrom is my brother. Has he not established that with you yet?"

"No, I guess it just hadn't come up at any point," Chrom mused, rubbing his with a pointed finger.

Fairen stumbled back, startled, his posture and composure broken. "Wait a moment," he said, first gesturing to Chrom. "So, you," he said, then pointed to Emmeryn, "and you, are brother and sister?"

"You got it," Chrom said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm the crown prince of Ylisse. But please, Fairen. Just treat me as you have been thus far. Like Emmeryn said, she's not fond of others bowing down to her, and I'm the same way."

Fairen left his mouth open, hands to the side, and his eyes wide. Frederick turned lightly to the side to hide his tiny smirk. Suddenly, Fairen let out a quiet chuckle that slowly bubbled to rambunctious, open-mouthed low laughter, having to hold his stomach and stumbling in place to stable himself.

"Fairen?" Chrom, said, worried yet wary.

"What's so funny?" Frederick stated.

Fairen was beside himself with unseen humour. The other four, Chrom, Frederick, Emmeryn, and the woman with grey hair, all shared glances as Fairen continued laughing. Finally, he looked back up at the group and started to wipe the tears away from his eyes.

"S-Sorry," he said, still giggling. "It's... It's just so funny that I've managed to get myself this deeply involved with royalty again!"

"This has happened to you before?" Chrom asked.

Fairen nodded his head. He could not stop himself from giving a toothy grin. "Yeah. I guess I better tell you all my official position. I am the head researcher of portals and interdimensional mechanics at the Magika Academis, the largest magic university in Alimaris." This definitely took everyone off guard, but Fairen continued, "before that, I was heavily involved with the going-ons of magical business with the Alimarinian royal family. Of course, I didn't plan on being there for the king, but things sort of happened, the position fell into my lap, and then suddenly I found myself in deep with the king and everyone closely connected to him. And now look." Fairen gestured to everyone. "I'm neck-deep in a place I don't know and already I've made pretty close connections with another royal family. It's just ironic to me, is all."

Chrom and Emmeryn shared a look, and grinned.

"Your grace," Frederick started. "If I may..."

Emmeryn turned around. "Yes, Frederick?"

"Although his actions thus far portray a friendly demeanor, I must suggest caution about his true intents. As he has stated, he comes from a land Chrom nor I have heard of, and this conversation is the first time he has revealed the name of where he is from. In fact, he has shared very sparce details about his past to us in general."

Fairen glared at Frederick, eyebrows furrowed. _You snake!_

"Really, Frederick?" Chrom deadpanned, a tinge of annoyance in his tone. "I don't think Fairen would close a undead-spawning hole in the sky if he was plotting against Ylisse and her people."

"We still do not know the origins of his powers," Frederick said, meeting Fairen's gaze with a stern, thin-lipped stare of his own. "Tell me Fairen, what compelled you to go searching for the portal before it appeared? Or how about your amulet? How it glows as you cast magic and then conveniently become memory-less?"

Fairen instantly grabbed his amulet and took a defensive stance, holding the growl in his throat. He figured Chrom had told Frederick those details while Fairen was asleep on the ride to Ylisse.

"Ease yourself, Frederick," Chrom said, stepping forward. "We don't want to poke and prod at people's stories so aggressively."

"And Chrom has allowed Fairen into the castle in the first place," Emmeryn said, gesturing to Fairen behind her. "Were Chrom to believe he was a true danger, he would have not done so, would you, brother?"

"No," Chrom said, shaking his head. "Of course not. Fairen's risked his life for many Ylissians. That's good enough for me."

Fairen could tell Frederick wanted to say more, but he made no motion to speak, and instead stood straight like a war banner stuck in the ground.

"It seems you've earned Chrom's faith, Fairen," Emmeryn said before too much silence could fill the room. "Thus, you have earned mine as well."

Fairen's blinked in mild surprise, and he tucked away his anger into the back of his mind, even as it buzzed and thrashed at him. "Thank you, your majesty."

"And thank you, Frederick," Emmeryn said," for your prudence, as always. Chrom and Lissa are blessed to have so tireless a guardian. I do hope they remember to mention that from time to time."

This time, Frederick smiled. "They occasionally express something akin to gratitude, Your Grace."

There was a knock on the double doors at the far end of the throne room. The grey-haired lady glanced at Emmeryn for a second, to which Emmeryn nodded.

"Enter," Emmeryn called out to the guards near the doors, and the two opened them for the person behind it: a servant girl, in her teens and wearing a flowing crimson dress. She swiftly and efficiently walked up to the group.

"Milady," she said, her voice slightly shaky from nerves. Then, she turned towards Chrom and Frederick. "Milords. I'm sorry to disturb you all."

"Do not worry," Emmeryn said. "What troubles you, Meridia?"

"The Warren Circle has collected themselves in the council room," Meridia informed.

"Ah," Emmeryn stated, leaning back in remembrance. She turned to Fairen. "I'm sorry. I would love to speak more with you, but I'm afraid council is about to be held."

Fairen nodded. "I understand, your majesty."

"Chrom, I was hoping you could join us as well."

Chrom looked back between Emmeryn and Fairen. "Eh, er... I'll be there shortly, Emm. Don't wait for me."

"Alright," Emmeryn complied. She, the grey-haired lady, and Meridia then went towards the exit.

Chrom examined the two other men next to him. The ire was clear as Frederick and Fairen glared at each other.

"Frederick, go with her," Chrom said, pointing toward Emmeryn. Emmeryn took a second to look over her shoulder. "And wait for me at the council doors."

"Milord?" Frederick asked.

"I'll be right there, I just need to sort out a few things with Fairen," Chrom explained.

Frederick took one last sideways look at Fairen. "As you wish."

Then, Frederick left the room. Chrom waited until the echo of the shut double doors faded.

Chrom turned to Fairen with a pained expression. "I'm sorry about Frederick. I think the Risen appearing has set him on edge."

Fairen had to relax under Chrom's sincerity. "It's ok, Chrom. I'll try not to let him get under my skin too much."

"That's good," Chrom said. "How much has Lissa showed you of the castle grounds?"

Chrom and Fairen went into a short conversation regarding where Fairen could and could not go, and that he should look for a maid or butler in case he gets lost. He promised Fairen he would give Fairen a real tour of the castle once he was done with council, and if not, then would find someone to do it for him. After bidding adieu, Chrom left the room in the same manner as Emmeryn and Frederick, leaving Fairen to himself with his thoughts and the echo of the large wooden doors at the end of the room.

_More royalty, huh?_ Fairen put one hand on his chin with the other cradling his elbow. _I hope that things go a lot better than last time._

* * *

The next day, Fairen found he could not lift his legs out of bed. From the tiny room given to him in the Shepherds' garrison, he had to crawl with his arms in embarrassment before Lissa kicked down the locked door because he slept through breakfast and was acting "really weird". After that point, he was at the whim and mercy of the clerics of Castle Ylissia, who carted him to the medical quarter so he could be closely monitored. Fairen did not enjoy the drab beige robes he was forced to wear, and although he had an amazing view of the city below from a window near his bed, the sun shining brightly through sparce white clouds, all he could think about was what the medical team was definitely saying about him behind his back.

"You're kiddin' me!" Mary, the head nurse of the medical quarter, wearing a plain brown frock and a square hat, said to Lissa, as the two were in deep dialogue in her secluded office behind thick doors. "He should have been out for weeks!"

"I know!" Lissa said, dressed in a fairer yellow dress than what she usually wore to battle. "It's incredible! I almost can't believe he's human!"

"Otherwise, he'd be a real monster," Mary mused, arms folded. "I'm certainly glad you've got him on the Shepherds' side."

Lissa shook her head. "But there's more, Mary. When I cast my magic, it was like the spell was sucked right out of my staff! He grabbed the other end of the spell and pulled it right into himself! If he didn't get every single ounce of healing magic that he did, I don't think he'd made it."

"That's really odd," Mary mused, chin-on-fist in deep thought.

"He ate the magic. I swear, he ate the magic." Lissa said, to which Mary nodded. "And he's still healing plenty without stave spells. I'm considering he might be part Manakete."

Fairen spent the next week and a half in that room, the smells of what magical cleaners and concoctions that the Ylissians made filling his nose day in and out, even as the western breeze flooded in his room each morning, along with the twitter of early birds. On occasion, would the other Shepherds come visit him and see how he was doing. Sumia brought him Ylissian field daisies, a bundle of pretty white flowers with petals that curved in a curtsey, having no other clue as to what to bring him. Vaike would appear, only to seem to want more battle stories from Fairen's past, to which Vaike would trade his own stories with. Fairen was mildly uncomfortable speaking about "how many dragon's he's exactly slain", but he thought it to be good company, none-the-less. He figured, however, that Vaike and Sumia only visited him because they heard from Lissa about his exploits in the burning field and of the hole in the sky, and for no other reasons.

Sully gave her hellos along with Virion, the latter of which actually brought a strategy board game, and offered Fairen to teach him and give pointers throughout their play, passing the hours quickly, to which Fairen immensely appreciated. The two that visited him the most, however, were Lissa and Chrom, the former of which fretted over him as much as she bonked him over the head over and over for pushing himself too hard in the first place. Fairen apologized over and over, wondering if he'd ever outlive Lissa's teasing. He wasn't too certain until when one day, before he went to bed, he found a frog that had somehow been placed beneath his pillow, followed by curious feminine snickers from behind his room door.

Chrom, on the other hand, introduced him to the other Shepherds, Frederick in the room with Chrom (which was the only time Fairen actually saw the stern knight while Fairen was stuck). Fairen met Sthal, the friendly cavalier with constant bed-head, a steady smile, and green armour to match Sully's red. As well, he was introduced to Miriel, a studious red-head mage with glasses and a witch's hat that seemed intensely intrigued by tales of Fairen's unique magic. Although she tried to visit as often as free time allowed her to "ascertain exact details of unknown magicks", the nurses of the medical quarter made sure Fairen wasn't bothered by too many information requests so specific that it evaded everyone's–except Fairen's–heads.

It wasn't just business that Chrom visited Fairen, however. It was genuine concern that fueled Chrom when he would visit Fairen in the late hours, beyond all the councils and throne room musings and complaints of the aristocrats that would so often be thrown his way. Fairen once again felt guilty of how wantonly he'd been acting in Chrom's presence, and promised Chrom that he'd try his best to answer any questions Chrom had for him. Chrom reassured him however, that he wanted Fairen to rest and recover as quickly as possible, and that deep-diving questions could wait until later.

At the end of his second week of rest, Fairen was slated to a fitting with the royal remodeler, as appointed by Chrom. Fairen had no qualms, as he had been aching to get out since the very start of his bed-arrest. Chrom explained that the royal remodeler, Keele, was the personal blacksmith for the royal family and all of their royal champions, and was famous for his work, with his needle skills often compared to a myrmidon with a blade.

So, when Fairen was escorted by Meridia to a small short in the western quarter of Ylisstol (his footsteps still uneasy from weakness), he did not expect to stop in front of a humble clay and brick shop short of two stories high. The building wasn't sandwiched between two others, like most shops in the district, but instead stood solely in a small field of short grass and wild flowers, the other houses that had been built beside the shop long since gone. It was a bastion in an otherwise sea of grey, maroon and brown walls, where a short breath and reprieve could be taken between the streets, away from the many parks and dirtied fountains that lay about the city. Fairen did take note of the burly-looking men and women idling on the street and between the closest buildings next to the remodeler's shop, and how they appeared just non-descript enough to not draw attention unless one was pertinently observant.

The inside of the shop was in sharp contrast to the outside, however. The front door jingled with three hanging copper bells painted silver, and immediately there was a shoe rack and a coat hanger to Fairen's left. The walls were plastered with a royal, velvet wallpaper, a golden flower pattern all over the surface. The building was split into four different rooms, one that had a mass of elaborate but sturdy looking armour worn by wooden mannequins. Another room was a workshop of sorts; it had different sewing materials and clothes lain out on multiple tables, with shelves in a closet overflowing with silk and felt.

Keele met Fairen almost immediately after he got through the door with Meridia. The man was broad and tall, with a summer tan to suit his dark complexion, black jelled hair, and a devilish mustache and goatee that screamed good looks. He wore a purple t-shirt that was a deeper shade than his walls and hugged his waist, showing off a good amount of chest hair from a large and round V-neck.

There was little introduction to be made between Fairen and Keele. Meridia couldn't even tell Keele what they were there for before Keele took Fairen by the wrist and dragged him off to the fitting room, where Fairen stood on an old box surrounded by three mirrors.

Fairen finally, finally got to properly see what he looked like, and it was depressing. He was given a simple green shirt and sack red pants on his outing, temporary clothes until he got a proper set from Keele, but it was not flattering him by any amount of the imagination. It was better than the clothes he arrived with, which were left in his room in the Shepherd's Garrison, but his current clothes were a sideways upgrade—not really an upgrade at all. He was pale as a ghost (which was ironically apt for Fairen as he had seen and fought ghosts before), with a face that seemed as if it hadn't seen the sun for months. He could see freckles stand out beneath his slanted eyes, freckles that only usually appear in the colder months. His hair was still stuck in bed mode: flat on the top and sticking out everywhere. Even though he went through a, embarrassingly, wash with one of the castle nurses, it still looked as if his face was permanently caked with dirt. Or, perhaps it was just the gaunt expression of his drooping lip corners or slight hunch that Fairen seemed to carry himself with.

And the circles under his eyes. It was the circles under his eyes that he could not pry his focus from.

"So, what kind of armour do you envision yourself in?" Keele asked, his voice tough, but light, with an accent that could easily be mistaken of high class, but was somehow... not. He had a measuring tape and started to measure around Fairen's torso.

"Mmm," Fairen sounded aloud, raising his arms to grant Keele easier access. "I'm not too sure. It's been a while since I've worn proper armour."

"Can't have been too long," Keele said, measuring the circumference of Fairen's shoulders. "You definitely look like the warrior type, and if Chromy boy has managed to pick you up for the Shepherds, then you must have some sort of preference."

Fairen looked over his shoulder at Keele, eyes wide. "Chromy boy?"

Keele took a step away and smiled. "I've been dressing Chrom since he was but a toddler. He was Chromy boy back then and he still is Chromy boy now."

Fairen almost couldn't believe how young Keele looked compared to what age he was talking about. He seemed to be still in his thirties!

"So," Keele said, going back to his measurements. "Armour type? You have an idea yet?"

"Oh, uh," Fairen said, almost jumping off the box in surprise. "Something strong, but not too heavy?"

"Can't have strong and light at the same time, my dear," Keele said, bringing the tape around Fairen's upper legs. "Unless you bring me some sort of ancient, legendary metal, it's one or the other."

Fairen tilted his head down, then shook it. "I'm sorry. I'm really used to magic armour. Uh, a magic spell for armour. I don't have a really good idea of what you can make armour out of."

"I see," Keele said, at Fairen's ankles. There was a beat. Fairen looked up at the ceiling and squinted, his sight blurring.

"There was this one time," Fairen started, "I think, and I don't remember it that well, but it was when I was fitted with some armour. It was light, and sturdy, not something like a knight would wear, but had some decent protection around the chest and shoulders."

"Was it easy to move in?" Keele asked, wrapping the tape around Fairen's elbows and wrists. "And did it have large gaps between the plates?"

"Uh," Fairen said intelligently. "It was pretty easy to move in, I guess, and there was a small gap between the plates. But I also remember a warning about avoiding blunt damage, like from hammers and maces,"

"Hmm," Keele said. "Come on, step down." Fairen did as he was told, and Keele took measurements around Fairen's collarbone and neck. "That sounds like medium armour. Not heavy, but not light, and just strong enough to avoid damage from a stab or three. Does that sound familiar?"

"Yeah, kind of," Fairen said, shifting around nervously. He met himself in the mirror once again. The background faded away, and the reflection clouded over as blue and grey painted a sky of warring storms, battles taking place as the moon evolved and was born anew again and again. A grand valley parted the sea of six kingdoms. A girl banished from time itself. Three brothers banned from their own knight's circle. A princess waiting to resurrect her kingdom. An age-old feud between the people of the mountains and sky. A young squire rose the ranks of a court as the focus of a sinister campaign. A journey spanning coast to coast. A king on a conquest, waiting to light the autumn fields with war. The lost denizens of the sea returning once more. A dragon guarding the greatest treasure of them all, a golden weapon that sealed away the darkness.

And a legendary pair, the chest of one stained with a hole of ichor.

"Helloooo?" Keele said, waving his hand in front of Fairen's face. "Anyone there? Ylisse to the warrior, are you there?"

Fairen shook himself out of his stupor and pulled his attention to Keele, filing the images of the kingdoms and the couple to the recesses of his mind. "I, uhh..."

"One second," Keele said, stepping out of view for a moment. When he came back, he was carrying a small, thin box filled with clothes. "Perhaps this," Keele put the box down and pulled out a familiar brown top, "will help you with your indecision."

Fairen looked at Keele's object through the mirror, and blinked. It was his leather jacket, scraped and ruined in its entirety. Keele had a box of his clothes somehow.

"You have an attachment to this jacket, don't you, darling?" Keele said, pulling himself to the side of the garment and looking up and down the zipper. "I can tell. And your belongings have some very interesting materials and innovations woven into them. Although, I have no idea in the world as to why you would combine your attire as you have. Your steel boots are twice the width of my thigh, and five times as heavy! Honestly, it doesn't look like normal warrior attire at all, nor like something a mage would wear, but it makes me wonder about what you did in your off time that made you need such heavy footwear..."

Fairen opened his mouth in response, only for Keele to speak over him. "Do not worry about such things. My point is that you'll want some sort of protection covering your shoulders, correct?"

Fairen couldn't help but smirk at the idea, to which Keele noticed. "It shall be thus, then! A medium-armour build with an immaculate cloak!" Keele gave Fairen a sideways, sly look. "What do you think?"

Fairen was surprised at how excited he was at the idea.

* * *

A couple of days later, Fairen got discharged out of the medical quarter, after having been thoroughly looked at (and then some, to the request and perseverance of Lissa) by the clerics and head nurse Mary. Chrom went to talk to Fairen about plans to mobilize the Shepherds soon. There was talk amongst the Warren Circle about their next objective, and Chrom asked if Fairen thought he was well enough to join the march. Determined, Fairen reassured Chrom that he was more than ready and willing to set out. Chrom did offer some assistance to get Fairen back into fighting condition through a training regimen that would last until deployment, to which Fairen agreed to.

And so Fairen found himself reconvening at the training grounds inside the castle property: a large section of field and buildings that were developed specifically for the use of castle and town guard training. Wearing but a simple armless brown shirt, matching brown shorts, and leather shoes (all borrowed from some royal resource Chrom had access to, as Keele had not sent any clothes to Fairen by that point), Fairen observed the yard before him in all its glory at seven-thirty in the morning with nary a cloud in the sky. A large grass field, cut trim, made up the majority of the training grounds, with multiple wooden buildings off to the north, the castle to the east, and a short path to the castle stables back north. A dirt oval track was dug around the field. Far away at the very base of the castle walls was a lengthy, challenging, and impressive obstacle course, consisting of many crawling, climbing, and jumping challenges, all for improving agility through muddy, war-like environments. The buildings north housed the castle guard training barracks, as well as a cafeteria and, somehow, a weight room. Outside the buildings themselves the ground was paved with cobblestone, and several straw-and-wood dummies were lined up one by one next to each other against the wall, ready and standing as practice that never attacked back.

Fairen was to meet with his training leader outside the barracks, Chrom had told him the previous day. What Chrom failed to mention, however, much to Fairen's horror, as Fairen made his way around the bend of the barracks corner, was that his training leader was Frederick. He met face-to-face with the stony-eyed Paladin, who adorned his blue battle armour as casually as one would with pajamas, and he gave Fairen a harsh, cold glare that froze up and down Fairen's spine.

"Why are you wearing a pair of rings?" Frederick questioned, eyeing dull, maroon rings on both of Fairen's hands. Fairen felt like Frederick's scowl was etched into his pointing eyebrows. "Jewlery is not allowed during field training."

"Do you want me to use my magic by accident?" Fairen said, pinching the ring on his right hand and shifting it around. "They're inhibitors. It's to keep me from using my Adrenis magic. Otherwise, During the training, I might accidentally use magic instead of my physical energy."

"I thought you said you wouldn't be casting magic for a 'long time'?" Frederick questioned, his frown intense. "Would you somehow end up losing the rest of your soul due to a little exercise?"

Fairen glowered. "For your information, Adrenis magic and Soul magic are two different things. Adrenis is used with the body and emotion, and Soul is used with the mind. You can use one without the other. Just because I use Adrenis magic it doesn't mean I'll lose my soul." Fairen detected a twitch from Frederick's eyebrow, and the battlemage bore a smirk. "You wouldn't want me cheating, would you?"

"Fair enough," Frederick relented. "If this magic works as you claim, it would be best to work your body without any unintended enhancers."

And thus, Frederick got Fairen to it. He explained to Fairen what their training regimen would look like: twenty laps around the track to start, where one lap was the length of a war field (a unit of measurement that held no meaning to Fairen), and then seven runs through the intermediate obstacle course, then lastly some weapon training against the dummies at the battle court. Fairen took the information in stride, a strong, unyielding frown on his face, eyes glowing with some confidence. Fairen started around the track at a jog while Frederick watched from the sidelines, eyes narrows.

Just after one lap, Frederick was urging Fairen to pick up his pace. To Frederick's surprise, Fairen's determined scowl hardened and his feet moved faster. Frederick's improving opinion faltered, however, as he watched Fairen's speed wilt within the next two laps, coming to a half-jog, half-quick-walk while Fairen's stamina was absent, Fairen panting and almost swaying with every step, exhausted in breath and energy.

"Enough, stop," Frederick said as Fairen reached around on his seventh lap. Fairen slowed and did as he was told. "Walk with me for the length of this part of the track."

Fairen and Frederick strode in tandem down the track, Frederick setting the pace with a decent cadence. Fairen put his knuckles on his hips, posture straight as he breathed in and out, letting the fresh morning air work through his system.

"I can't believe how fit you were in battle previously compared to now," Frederick commented, clearly unhappy. "It is night and day. Were you merely fooling us, disguising your true fitness with that magic of yours?"

Fairen held his hands out limply, gesturing to his rings with a tired smile. "Adrenis magic does wonders. I've been with magic for so long that my physical state actually sucks, and my time in the lab doing research for the Academis kept me from doing anything about it."

"You seemed fine when milady healed your stomach wound," Frederick said, tone expressing confusion. "Your upper body was decently toned for someone who also practices so much magic. If not for your clothes and demeanour, I would have assumed you to be a war monk."

"Once again: magic."

"Does your magic do everything?" Frederick asked somewhat coarsely.

Fairen's smirk was coy and brash. "If you're good enough? Almost."

Frederick from that point had moved Fairen on to the obstacle course, which Fairen could barely do two rounds of. Once again, Frederick stopped the regiment after Fairen returned to the start of the intermediate course to try again.

"We shall stop training for the day," Frederick announced with no fanfare, only neutrality.

"What? But I can keep going!" Fairen said between breaths, his face covered in dirt, mud, and sweat, arms and legs slick with perspiration and ground-up bits of the obstacle course's pits.

"It is clear that you do not have the tenacity or endurance to complete the full training," Frederick explained. "You had already struggled during stamina athletics, and you can barely handle environment agility. There is no point continuing any longer, and I doubt that you will be able to raise a sword, much less a wooden one, for more than thirty seconds if we get to weapon training."

"Frederick," Fairen began, "I can do this!"

Frederick watched Fairen's body heave and sway with an unsteadiness before turning away from Fairen. "There is a hallway connected to the bath houses in the soldier's barracks. I suggest you change and visit them when you have recovered enough strength. We will begin again at the same time tomorrow. Do not be late."

"Frederick!" Fairen cried out in rage.

Frederick glanced over his shoulder at Fairen with a stern expression. "Quit your protesting. You would not even be considered for the city guard in your state." Frederick began walking away. "That, however, can, and only can, change with time."

Fairen watched Frederick leave, his heart still beating to a jog, until he fell to his knees and pounded the dirt in frustration.

The sun was still hanging lazy and sideways against the sky. It hadn't even been one and a half hours.

* * *

The next day had not gotten any better. Fairen went eleven track laps and an obstacle course lap and a half before Frederick said no and sent him to the baths again. The third consecutive day was worse, as the fatigue in Fairen's limbs from doing so much straight physical activity without much day-rest caught up to him.

And yet, Frederick didn't find Fairen to complain a single time after his outburst on the first day. He didn't whine about how hard he was working, he didn't care about the soreness of his limbs, and he listened to Frederick's every command willingly and without question. Frederick was ready to get harsher with Fairen, anticipating push back. But, Fairen kept on plodding forward with every step on the track until Frederick said stop, and he kept jumping, climbing, and traversing the wood mud structure that made up the obstacle course until he was dismissed. And after training, he would leave, take a bath, and be ready for it the next day, all without a single word.

"Aren't you being a bit hard on him, Frederick?" Sully asked on the fourth day, herself in workout gear (white shirt and some baggy shorts), standing next to Frederick as the two of them watched Fairen once again force his legs forward around the track. "I mean, couldn't you give him a day break between training bouts?"

"He is performing a training regimen that any member of the royal guard would be able to easily complete," Frederick said calmly, his eyes not leaving Fairen's sluggish figure.

"But he's not a member of the guard," Sully said.

"Yes, I am holding him to a much higher standard. He is a Shepherd, and as such he needs to have the stamina and capacity to be able to save the prince at any moment's notice. I am training him with the goal to reach that point."

Sully winced. "Would you make Miriel or Ricken do the same thing?"

"Of course not," Frederick reasoned as Fairen turned the bend towards the end of his sixth lap. "They perform wildly different roles in the Shepherds as primarily magic-wielders. Fairen, however, must be trained harder than a guard would because he does not know our common magic, and as such will have to brandish a physical weapon much like the rest of us. Even if he were to wield a bow in battle and attack from afar, if he could not last thirty minutes in battle without his 'magic', then he would be more of a burden than a boon."

"Yeah, that makes sense, but... I mean for Pete's sake, he just got out of medical!" Sully argued. "If a maimed soldier was released and went back to training, Chrom would make sure that they would at least take it easier until they could fully recover!"

Frederick gave Sully a pointed look. "I would normally agree with you, except that Fairen is unusually and quite oddly sturdy for a man his size and stature. No normal warrior would have their intestines spewed on the battlefield, heal to almost full capacity shortly after, and be awake and on the road to the next destination. And, they certainly wouldn't be awake and lively for the following days after." He gestured towards their subject, who finally entered his sixth round. "Do you not see the look of determination on his face? It is my job to guide him to fitness, fitness for the army and fitness for the Shepherds, and if I can get him to reach that goal faster by slightly pushing him then it will be all the better."

Sully simply stared, eyebrows high, at Frederick, then at Fairen, who, despite his feet slightly scraping against the dirk, was still jogging to the best of his ability, at the fastest speed he could consistently manage.

"If he reaches a point in the session where I think he will hurt himself, then I will stop him. I am here to gauge his progress. But if you think I will allow him a reprieve more than he needs, then you are mistaken."

Sully chuckled. "You've put a lot of thought into this. Kind of reminds me of when you trained me, is all. It looks like that shit's much harder on him than it was on me."

"Not reminding you enough, it seems," Frederick said, turning to Sully. "Apparently, it's been so long since you've trained under me that you've forgotten how I handle my training philosophies. Perhaps it is time to have you revisit the topic once again."

Sully threw up her hands and backed away slowly with a grin. "Alright, alright! I get it! I'll stop with the questions!" She walked away and towards the weight room. "Good grief."

With a small smile, Frederick brought his attention back to Fairen, who had stopped for a very brief moment, leaning on his knees to catch his breath, before he started his run once again.

* * *

During his fifth day of training, Fairen saw a flicker of light in the corner of his eye at one of the upper floors of Castle Ylissia, a looming outline of a figure in the candlelight of the hallway. They dashed away suddenly, the night's darkness encompassing the open window outside. He paid no attention to it, and focused solely on what he could visually make out of his running shoes under the pale luminance of the moon above, few clouds in the sky.

His mind was completely on putting one foot in front of the other at an acceptable jogger's pace, and nothing else. Dirt and mud matted his sweat-covered arms and legs. Dribbling perspiration would roll down his forehead and threaten to get into his eyes. He shook his head to try and dislodge the offending drops, afraid of blinding himself with the soil on his hands if he tried to wipe it away. He was panting, constantly out of breath, and felt as if his lungs were a twenty-pound sack of meat set on fire. His throat was raw from the past hour and a half of air quickly and constantly moving through it without a break. The taste of dehydration was ripe on his tongue. With each step he seemed to sway, his balance gone to the light northern breeze that seemed to grace him, but he directed all his willpower, all his mental courage onto moving forward continuously on the dirt track.

He was on his eighth lap, but had spent the majority of his time prior at the obstacle course five times, missing jumps and falling off of platforms and wooden bridges due to the low light condition. He took a few hits when he would land harshly on the ground, and took hits to the head once or twice, but after he was done the course, he was still ready and willing to do laps around the track. He did not allow himself a moment of respite. It was go, go, go, the only company around him were the guards patrolling the area, who he spoke to before he started and notified them of his activities beforehand so they wouldn't suddenly assault him in misunderstanding.

Fairen had turned the last bend, the final stretch of his eighth lap before him. His vision was blurry. He couldn't see properly anymore. It seemed as if his limbs flailed in a weak impression of running instead of actually, properly functioning. His clothes were soaked from head to toe with sweat. He couldn't stop. He mustn't stop. And yet, a few steps after the start line, his pace slowed, feet dragging in the dirt, until the strength in his legs gave out and he fell to his knees.

Leaning forward, he planted his hands on the ground for support, heaving, upper chest expanding and contracting rapidly but on tempo, tongue hanging out and letting out hot droplets from withing his mouth out with every exhale. His eyes watered. He was so tired. The word "exhausted" wouldn't cover it. And yet, all he thought was that he was taking a quick, sixty-second break before he would get back up, continue, and finish his last three laps. He had it envisioned: the success of his workout would be his eventually. His emotions boiled up from the inside, the Adrenis magic that would normally fuel him blocked by the rings around his fingers. He just needed one, quick, break. He was so damn tired.

Suddenly, someone pushed him upright and grabbed him by the crew neck. Fairen was hoisted up, weakly putting his hands on the offending grip of his assaulter, mind scrambling to try and figure out what was going on. His neck cried in protest at the pain that was born from the shirt material digging into his skin.

"What in Her Divine Grace do you think you are doing?" a voice growled. Fairen found himself staring face-to-face in the enraged brown eyes of Frederick.

"Finishing my training... for the day," Fairen said between breaths, unable to gather enough power in his arms to try and resist Frederick's grasp.

"What part of 'take to the bathhouse' did you not understand earlier? Or have these past five days of routine and rest pass by your head?" Frederick said, shaking Fairen, practically speaking through grit teeth.

Fairen's expression hardened, eyes squinting. "I know what it's like out there, Frederick. I've seen battle. I've seen war. Out there, if you don't have the strength to do the job, if you can't follow through with your orders because you're too weak, you're dead. You're dead or you'll cause death to those around you."

"So, you are running yourself to death's door from fear of failing in battle?" Frederick asked, incredulous.

"Frederick," Fairen began, scowling. "There is no half-assing it. If I can't do the simple twenty laps and seven runs on the course, what kind of a soldier am I? I can't cut it like that on the battlefield. You get it done or you die. That's how it is."

"You will not be able to reach the battlefield if you grind your arms and legs into paste working yourself this hard!" Frederick explained. "I stop your training at certain points for a reason. You should not kill yourself trying to reach a higher level of fitness!"

Fairen barked out a half-baked laugh, followed by a wheeze. His head lolled in the direction his body heaved as it still tried to suck in as much air as it could. "It's either kill myself training, or kill myself trying to save those I care about in battle. Either way, the end's the same."

Something changed in Frederick's gaze. The corners of his eyes sharpened, like the side of a blade to a whetstone. "There are no martyrs in the Shepherds, Fairen. What would milord say if he saw you becoming this ragged for his cause, ruining himself under his name? What would milady say, seeing you like this, doing this to yourself, after weeping over what she thought to be your dead body, then resurrecting you from the brink?"

Fairen had to look away. The bob of bone in the center of his neck jumped as he swallowed.

"What would Lissa say?" Frederick said, his eyes softening ever so slightly. Then, he left go, dropping Fairen to the ground. Fairen harshly landed on his knees, dropping to all fours once again, letting out a grunt. Even though his pulse continued to race, his breathing finally decelerated.

"You must begin to put your trust into us. I understand you've barely been a Shepherd for a month, and you've only been on one outing with us, but you still must find it inside you to trust and work with us. We are all here to help you, giving everything we can to help you. You do not have to prove yourself any more to any of us. We've all either seen, or heard of, what you can do, and what you have done for us already. There is no need to sacrifice yourself unnecessarily."

Fairen cackled again, and shook his head. "I thought you think I'm still untrustworthy?" Fairen took a small breather. "I can't actually tell what's up with you. One moment you're helping me make a compromise, and the next you're sabotaging my relations with the exalt. What's your game?"

"There is none," Frederick said.

"Bullshit," Fairen spat. "You hate my guts. Admit it."

Frederick lend down a hand towards Fairen. "Some amount of caution in every circumstance is wise. That is why I choose to warn the exalt about some existing factors about you. But, I do not 'hate your guts,' Fairen."

Fairen peered up to look at Frederick, then at his hand. He spat to the side, sneering. "Fucking dick." With that, he took Frederick's hand and was helped up. "But thanks."

"You will not be thanking me tomorrow, with the soreness you are about to experience," Frederick said. He took a moment to chew on his next words. "In fact, we shall take a break from training tomorrow. We will begin again on the day after."

Fairen had no more energy for words, and instead nodded.

"The bathhouses may be still open this time of night," Frederick said as he began to walk off, Fairen soon following behind him. "If not, I can ask the maids to get one running for you again. Or I can ask milord if he can get a servant to do so if the maids are unavailable."

"Please don't drag Chrom any more into this," Fairen asked.

Frederick hummed. "I might have to, in order for you to go to bed clean."

"Please don't."

"I may as well, anyway."

Fairen tsked, and turned his head to the outer wall protecting the castle compound, Frederick simply smirked. In truth, Frederick led Fairen up to the barracks, where he got a maid to start a bath just for Fairen.

Chrom was none the wiser the next day.

* * *

"Thank you all for coming today," Chrom said, leaning on the center wooden table in the Shepherd's garrison, his face etched in serious business. He was surrounded by all his cohorts: Frederick, who stood beside and behind him with his ridged stance and expression, Sully, who folded her arms and watched Chrom with a semi-casual air, Virion, who leaned on a wooden crate half his size as he smirked, and the others Chrom noticed, including Sumia, Vaike, and Stahl. Chrom glanced around the room at everyone before continuing. "I hope you've all had a well and restful couple of weeks, but we are to move out soon for a new objective."

Frederick took a rolled-up, sizable piece of parchment from the table and rolled it out in front of Chrom for everyone to see. The Shepherds leaned in, trying to spot what was on the paper. It was a map of the continent, with the boarders of Ylisse, Plegia, and Regna Ferox outlined along with some smaller states and kingdoms along the eastern coast.

"As you all know, Ylisse has, over the past couple of weeks, become victim to several barbarian and brigand bands. Scout reports have revealed that these bands have consistently originated from west of the Ylissian border."

"The bandits of the Plegian wastes," Stahl noted.

"Psh. As if anyone doubted it was the Plegians at work," Sully scoffed.

"Regardless," Chrom continued, "The Warren Council, as well as the exalt and myself, have found it pertinent to establish an allied connection with our neighbors to the north, the Feroxi."

This rose a couple of eyebrows in surprise.

"They are a people of great warrior strength, and we'll need that strength to quell this menace of barbarians, as well as with any future incursion with the Plegians. Typically, the Exalt would request such aid in person. But given recent events, as well as the increased dangers in the kingdom, it wouldn't be a good idea for Emm to leave the capital. Thus, the task has been passed to us." Chrom pointed to the road between Ylisse and Feroxi land. "In three days, we'll be marching to Regna Ferox. Fortunately, the Council have been kind enough to send some additional units with us. We'll all be rounded out with soldiers fitting of our duties. Lancers for Sully and Stahl, fighters for Vaike, cavaliers for Frederick, and so forth. We'll have a potential force of fifty strong."

Chrom looked up from the map. "These three days before our journey will be used to gather supplies needed. If you have any other duties to tend to before then, you should do them as soon as possible. Of course, this mission is strictly voluntary, so if, for any reason, if you cannot attend, then I, as well as any of the other Shepherds, will understand."

"Are you kidding me?" Sully said, not waiting for a pause at the end of Chrom's words. "Why would I wait out on this? I'm in."

"Me too!" Vaike exclaimed. "You'll be needin' ol' Teach along for such a delicate mission!"

"I'll go as well," Kellam, a large, soft-faced man with short, brown hair and large, bulky blue knight armour, said. Everyone turned to look at him. The situation became suddenly awkward as Kellam looked back and forth between everyone's stares. "What? I've been here the whole time!"

"I, uh, um..." Sumia said, fiddling with her fingers, uncertain.

Chrom nodded at her. "Yes, Sumia?"

"It's just that..." Sumia started slowly, "I'm not sure I'm quite ready for a proper mission just yet. I'd probably get in the way."

Chrom's face relaxed. "Well, you could stay behind the main group, and if a battle is met, you could watch and learn. Your choice, of course. But some lessons can only be learned on the battlefield."

Sumia's eyes darted to and from Chrom's. "W-well, if you think it wise, Captain."

"Just stay by me and you'll be fine," Chrom said. Sumia stood up straight and beamed at Chrom. Chrom turned to the rest of the group. "Any of you have any questions?"

"Yeah," Vaike said, putting his hand up for a brief moment. "Where's Lissa and Fairen? Are they skipping out on this?"

"Lissa had gone out with Fairen to pick up his new armour," Chrom explained. "I already told Lissa of the situation and told her to notify Fairen. They should be back soon, but Lissa already said she was willing to come with us."

"What about Fairen?" Vaike asked.

"We'll know when they get back," Chrom said.

Just then, the main door to the garrison burst open in a flurry of yellow, the door's sturdy wooden form slamming into the stone wall with a crash.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!" Lissa announced with a flourish, hands high, standing on her tippy toes as the shine in her gaze matched her wide smile. "May I present to you, the great, the grand, the most distinguished master magician, portal conqueror, and axe artisan this side of the Ylissian Quarter, Fairen!"

From the open entrance, beyond the blinding light that the sun rained in outside, Fairen strode through with four solid steps. He stood in place before everyone as everyone took a look at what Lissa was talking about.

Fairen was equipped in plated, silver-shaded armour, from his upper to lower body. He had plates sewn and connected to thin, fitted pants that protected his thighs, knees, and behind. Armoured boots attached to his feet, the metal rising up beyond his shins in typical Ylissian fashion, protecting his ankles, but the bottoms of his boots were tall and rounded with iron at the toes, a thick inch of extra metal pressed into the heel and midsole. His upper body wore similar armour to his pants, with a medium breastplate hanging off his shoulders and protecting his ribcage, along with a series of smaller steel pieces slated along and around his stomach. One could spot the golden chainmail at his neck, sitting between his armour and a white shirt he had on underneath, his ruby necklace on top of it all.

But stealing the show was his leather jacket, custom fit, reaching all along his arms and down his torso, appearing much like his only one, except newer and without the scars of battle. It reached further down than his last, going past the bottom end of his hips, but was otherwise perfect in arm length and neck radius. There were two large pockets on the outside of the jacket in front, one for each hand, and a metal zipper that he could use to close the jacket. On his back were a series of sideways straps and belts that held nothing, but had the potential to carry a backpack or a weapon if need be. It was clear that parts of the jacket had metal plates between the fabric, with the bottom of the jacket hanging down with a weight, the shoulders clearly rounded out, and the back curved in a consistent angle.

Fairen adjusted the turquoise gauntlets on his hands, the fingers covered in thin leather and the knuckles metal that reached up his wrist, becoming hidden in the arm of his jacket. A wild smirk adorned Fairen's face, and when he was satisfied with his gauntlets, he looked Chrom straight into the eye, his usually gaunt visage filled with life.

"I'm with you all, Chrom. Let's go recruit some allies."

* * *

**A STRONG NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: **

Normally, this would be the part where I put author's notes about my life while this chapter was being written along with the musings I have as an author about this chapter's content. But because my author's notes are rather large and there's no separate section to put author's notes in separate of the chapter, I will be posting all author's notes for end-of-chapter section on a blog website. This is largely because I don't want to artificially inflate the word count of my story because of long author's notes sections. You can find the website link below. Not only will I add any author's notes there, but I will also post chapter progress updates, chapter previews while they are being written, chapter release notices, and if this story somehow gets it, fan art. I also will respond to questions and comments on that website, if I get them. I'd rather not leave comment responses at the end of chapters like I've seen so often on this website.

I know that the fanfiction site really does not like it when you post links to other sites in your stories, but it's not like I'm posting a link to try and sell stuff to you or anything. It's a blog website, for crying out loud. I will remove the links if I get any sort or warning, but I will also be pissed if I get a warning, because I see stories much bigger than mine with links at the end that do not get removed, so I get a warning and they don't...

Here's the basic URL. Add "com" to the end of it after a dot and you're good: bbcomet. tumblr

* * *

CLASS CHANGE! (Due to story-based progression)

Fairen

Class: Explorer = Recruit

Level: 3 - 2 = 1

HP: 20 + 2 = 22

STR: 6 + 2 = 8

MAG: 8 – 6 = 2

SKL: 7 + 2 = 9

SPD: 8 + 2 = 10

LCK: 1 + 2 = 3

DEF: 6 + 1 = 7

RES: 7 – 6 = 1

MOV: 5

Level-up Quote: "Feeling real sore after all that running..."

WEAP. LVL: Lance = E

Skills Equipped:

\- Beginner's Luck: While unpromoted or below LVL 10, gain +3 to STR and SKL for 3 fights after leveling.


End file.
